EAST LONGMEADOW - In a girls basketball game featuring two of the better freshmen classes in western Massachusetts, it was East Longmeadow first-year forward Morgan Belanger who scored with 2.5 seconds left to lift the Spartans past Northampton 53-51 Thursday.

The teams' six freshmen combined for 48 points in an intense contest that felt like a preview of next week's Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament.

"We turned the ball over 24 times, 12 times in the first half and 12 times in the second half," Blue Devils coach Perry Messer said. "That can't happen. When you've got freshmen and sophomores, they make some mistakes, but we made too many."

Northampton (12-8, 6-6 Valley Wheel) took the lead twice in the final 2 minutes, 43 seconds, but couldn't hold on for its fourth straight victory heading into the postseason.

"It was like (a tournament game). We knew it was going to be hard," Blue Devils sophomore guard Susan Bell said.

Hamp freshman Maya Kerstetter (10 points, six steals) put her team ahead 49-47 with a pull-up jumper from the right baseline. But Kylie White responded with a pair of free throws 31 seconds later to even the score for the sixth time in the contest.

Northampton senior Lauren Weston (15 points, eight rebounds, five steals, four blocks) then made a pair of free throws of her own with 1:50 left to take a 51-49 lead. The Blue Devils then got a stop and called timeout with 1:16 left.

But the team lost control of the ball and East Longmeadow's Arielle Ward took possession and raced the length of the court for the game-tying layup with 1:05 left.

Both teams traded scoreless possessions before Northampton committed its 24th and final turnover of the game with 14.2 seconds left. The Spartans (11-9, 7-5) called timeout, advanced the ball to half-court and called timeout again with 8.6 seconds left

East Longmeadow inbounded up top to Ward, who found Belanger coming off a screen. The freshman beat the defense to the left side and flipped a left-handed layup that rattled in with 2.5 seconds left.

Northampton used its final timeout, but couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer.

"We wanted to come out and play hard," Bell said. "We knew it was going to be a tough game. We were too slow early and that hurt us."

Northampton played much of the second half with Weston, Bell and freshmen Anna Moore (four points, six rebounds), Anna Walther (13 points, five rebounds) and Kerstetter on the floor.

"They played hard," Messer said. "When we play with aggression, we are good players. But then we get a little hesitant and make some bone-headed decisions."

Northampton struggled with East Longmeadow's trap defense, which led to most of the turnovers. The Blue Devils led 17-11 with 5:03 left in the second quarter, but the Spartans responded with a 13-0 run to take control going into halftime.

"We practiced (East Longmeadow's) defense a lot," Bell said. "But it's hard to match what they have in practice."

Northampton trailed by as many as eight points late in the third quarter, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Walther and Bell cut the deficit to 38-37 going into the fourth. The teams were then tied at 39, 47, 49 and 51 before Belanger's game-winner.

Ward led all scorers with 17 points. The win wrapped up an impressive turnaround for the two-time defending WMass champion Spartans, who began the season 0-6 overall.

Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com. For more coverage, including a high school sports blog, go to www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports.