Perfect Hurricanes at a loss
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AMHERST - A dream season for the Amherst Regional girls basketball team ended with a nightmare shooting performance.
After 21 straight wins, the Hurricanes suffered their worst offensive night, and their first loss, of the season 45-39 to East Longmeadow in the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament championship game on Saturday at Curry Hicks Cage.
"We just missed a lot of shots," said fourth-year coach Christal Murphy. "We had some good looks and they just didn't go in. It's a different environment. We've never had the privilege to play in such a packed gym. Our shots just didn't go in for us."
No. 1 Amherst (21-1) suffered its worst struggles in the fourth quarter. After entering the frame tied at 31-31, the Hurricanes did not score until junior center Mariah Lesure made a free throw with 3 minutes, 26 seconds remaining.
By that time, it was already 39-32 Spartans and Amherst, which had five turnovers in the frame before scoring a point, never recovered.
No. 3 East Longmeadow (18-4) earned its second straight sectional title with the win. The Spartans will play central Massachusetts champion Shepherd Hill (22-1) in the state semifinals on Wednesday at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.
"It's heartbreaking because it ends at this point, but we've had such an amazing season," Amherst senior guard Jenna Klaes said. "Their shots fell (Saturday), our shots didn't. They played great defense. They are a great team."
The Spartans unleashed a 2-2-1 half-court trap on the Hurricanes to hold down the pace of the game and look for fast-break chances.
"They definitely slowed us up in the 2-2-1. We didn't attack it the way we should have in the first half," said Amherst senior guard Alyssa Leonard, who finished with six points, nine below her average. "But that's a great basketball team. We beat them (by 11 points) on our court back in December, but that was a long time ago."
Stopping Leonard, a career 1,000-point scorer who scored 19 points in the regular-season meeting on Dec. 23, was the Spartans' top defensive priority.
"We definitely sacrificed some stuff to try to shut her down," East Longmeadow coach Erik Maurer said. "We felt that she isn't just their scoring leader, but their emotional leader. If she's going well offensively, they feed off it defensively. We felt that that was one of our major keys. The girls did a great job executing that.
"We tried to do the same thing with (Klaes) because she's the same way. We didn't do as good a job with that in the first half, but did a much better job on her in the second."
Klaes scored six of her 10 points in the first half and had none in the fourth quarter.
Lesure led all scorers with 16 points to go with nine rebounds and four blocks. Junior forward Nicole DeMarchena had two points, 16 rebounds and four blocks.
Senior center Krista Ferrentino led East Longmeadow with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore forward Arielle Ward also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.
Saturday's game was the first time playing at the Curry Hicks Cage for the hometown Hurricanes, and the locals packed the gym to support their title bid.
"It was honestly amazing," Leonard said. "The amount of people that came out for our game was absolutely incredible. It's a shame that it had to end the way it did. It was a fun basketball game to play in."
Klaes agreed, "We played this like it was a home game. We were technically the home team with the No. 1 seed. It was amazing to feel that everyone in town understood what we've accomplished and have them come out and support us. I just wish we could have won a championship."
Amherst led 13-9 after the first quarter and did not trail until a jumper by Laurie Bonano from the free-throw line to open the second half gave the Spartans a 22-21 advantage.
The teams traded baskets through the third to go into the final frame at 31-31 and set up the season-ending offensive woes for Amherst.
"I know it's not the outcome that they wanted or I wanted. But I hope they can look back and realize that they put Amherst back on the basketball map," said Murphy, whose program was playing in its first final since 2000 and seeking its first title since 1993. "I'm very proud of them. They left their hearts out there on the court tonight."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
