SPRINGFIELD — Megan McCarthy pressed her palms together sitting on Northampton’s bench. Her thumbs rested on her lips, while her eyes darted, watching the ball.
She fouled out of the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Girls Basketball Tournament semifinals with 5 minutes, 23 seconds remaining. No. 4 Northampton had a one-point lead and a chance to take down No. 1 Central.
McCarthy realized that and changed her outlook on the bench.
“I fouled out, that had to do with me. Instead of sulking in it, that’s not the player and the person I am, my team was still out there for another five, six minutes,” McCarthy said. “My team’s still out there and I wanted to cheer them on.”
The Golden Eagles outscored Northampton 12-2 over the final five minutes and advanced to Friday’s title game with a 60-51 victory at Western New England.
The Blue Devils missed McCarthy in breaking Central’s press and attacking in the post. She finished with 10 points and helped Northampton (14-7) stay organized defensively.
“We had to roll the dice. We still had the lead late in the game,” Northampton coach Perry Messer said of leaving McCarthy in the game with four fouls “There haven’t been too many teams in Western Mass. that have done that to them.”
Northampton freshman point guard Amanda Mieczkowski gave Northampton that lead, 49-48, with 5:48 left. She drove to the basket, jumped for a layup, saw one of Central’s defenders, switched hands mid-air and finished on the other side of the rim.
“I just needed to attack. We needed that momentum to get us going,” she said.
The momentum lasted all of 25 seconds until McCarthy picked up her fifth foul defending a Central inbounds play.
“I was pissed. I was really mad,” she said. “That was the last time I would be out on the court with a great group of girls, my last time ever stepping out on the basketball court.”
Northampton’s seniors gave the Golden Eagles almost everything they could handle in the game.
Lauraine Joensen finished with 17 points, and Hannalise Rivera-Lovett added 12. All three played major roles in breaking Central’s press, too.
“They stepped up to the occasion. You could tell Perry did a great job preparing them,” Central coach Erik Maurer said. “Their seniors showed a lot of class. They went out fighting.”
In its third game against Central this season, the Blue Devils (15-7) never let the Golden Eagles run away. Other than Central’s game-ending run, its biggest lead was five points.
“We had them where we wanted them,” Messer said. “I told our guys to compete, give us a chance at the end.”
The chance came as a result of managing an intense, physical flow of play. There were 37 fouls called, and Central had 21 of them.
“This past week we’ve been practicing game-like situations,” Mieczkowski said. “I just kept going back to those moments where our coaches were telling us it’s our game, and we weren’t walking out without a win.”
They came as close as any team in western Mass. this season. Central had won every game against Pioneer Valley opponents by at least 17 points.
“I was hoping if we could get there, they’d get a little tight at the end,” Messer said.
Central didn’t falter and executed once McCarthy fouled out to put the game away.
“It really helped us when Meg fouled out,” Maurer said. “She was having a great game.”
It was the final game for Northampton’s seniors Joensen, McCarthy and Rivera-Lovett. Joensen will play college basketball at Canisus, while McCarthy is headed to Bryant to play lacrosse next year.
“You don’t find nicer kids than Laurane, Megan and Hannalise,” Messer said.
Northampton brings back nine players from this year’s roster next season, including scorers Mieczkowski (five points) and Emma Tanner (seven points). They’ll be preparing for their turn in the spotlight with Northampton graduating 58.6 percent of its scoring.
“We keep touching that ball. We don’t put the ball down at all,” Mieczkowski said. “There’s no offseason.”
Central (19-3) will play No. 3 Shepherd Hill (17-5) in the finals at 6 p.m. Friday at UMass’ Curry Hicks Cage.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.
Central 60, Northampton 51
Northampton (15-7)
McCarthy 4-2-10, Lewandowski 0-0-0, Mieczkowski 2-0-5, Tanner 3-0-7, Kerwood 0-0-0, Rivera-Lovett 4-3-12, Joensen 6-4-17, Maurer 0-0-0. Totals 19-10-51
Central (19-3)
Brown 3-5-11, Sanchez 4-1-9, Coleman 1-0-2, Baldwin 3-2-9, Rudder 3-2-8, Sweene 1-0-3 Thompson 3-1-9, Haynes 4-1-9. Totals 23-11-60
|
Northampton |
18 |
14 |
11 |
8 |
—51 |
|
Central |
18 |
17 |
13 |
12 |
—60 |
3-Pointers—Northampton 3 (Tanner, Rivera-Lovett, Joensen), Central 3 (Baldwin, Sweeney, Haynes)