EASTHAMPTON — It’s amazing how much of an impact a reliable three-point shooter can have on a big game.

Lauren Morse certainly fits the bill.

The Easthampton senior was at it again on Thursday night, this time making sure the 14th-seeded Eagles weren’t going to watch their season come to an end at home.

Morse drilled six 3-pointers, finishing with a game-high 19 points as Easthampton handled its business in a tidy 58-43 victory over No. 19 Blackstone Valley Tech in an MIAA Division 4 Round of 32 contest.

The Eagles (18-3) advanced to the Round of 16, where they will meet the winner of No. 3 Wahconah and No. 30 New Mission. Those teams meet in a Round of 32 game on Friday.

“Even when she misses them, so many people are firing out at her and they’re so concerned with her that it ends up being some easy putbacks for other players,” Easthampton coach Brian Miller said of Morse. “She creates havoc. You have to extend your defense out because she can shoot five feet beyond the three-point line and that’s a lot of space to cover.”

Morse hit three 3’s in the first quarter, helping the Eagles set the tone and take a 19-10 lead after eight minutes.

Their defense had a lot to do with the fast start. Easthampton’s full court press frustrated the visiting Beavers (14-6), and prevented them from getting into any sort of offensive flow.

“Just go get your girl and put pressure on her and create havoc,” Miller said of his team’s defensive philosophy. “[Blackstone Valley Tech] had a clear size advantage, so we didn’t want them having any time to set up and look inside and take advantage of that so we really wanted to make girls put their head down and be uncomfortable with the ball. And all five girls can do that, all 11 girls on this team can do that.”

Christine Raymond and Sophia Faginski each scored four points in the second quarter for the hosts, which limited the Beavers to only a pair of field goals in the frame en route to a 29-17 halftime lead.

The Eagles stretched their lead to as many as 17 points in the second half, and Morse hit back-to-back 3’s midway through the third to make it a 37-21 game and keep the visitors at arm’s length. The deficit never got inside single digits the rest of the way.

Faginski joined Morse in double figures with 10 points, while freshman Samone Young chipped in eight points off the bench. Maria Belfakih added seven points and Jess Cloutier and Raymond each tossed in six for the balanced Eagles.

A year removed from dropping a state tournament opener at home to Frontier, Miller said his team wasn’t thinking about that when action tipped Thursday.

“They’re young. They’ve forgotten about last year, they’ve moved on. A lot has happened since last year,” he explained. “I think they just want to go out and show everyone what we’ve been working on and how good we’ve gotten over the course of this season. I think if you look at us two months ago to today, we’re a much better team and that was sort of our focus. This is our last home game, we’re not playing here again, let’s show everyone what we can do.”

Next comes a likely matchup with No. 3 Wahconah in the Round of 16, likely to be played early next week, if the Warriors handle their business on Friday against New Mission. Easthampton fell to Wahconah just last week in the Western Mass. Class B semifinal round, 68-49, though Miller said his charges aren’t shying away from a potential rematch.

“I think we’re excited to play Wahconah,” he said. “They got us pretty good [last week] but really it was one quarter where they got us. We just had a real bad second quarter. So our girls think they can clean that up a bit and give them a better match. I think we match up with them so I think we’re excited to play them again if that’s how it works out.”

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