WMass basketball: South Hadley girls secure Class B title with miraculous second-half comeback against Pittsfield

HOLYOKE — Down 56-53 with one minute left to play in the Western Mass. Class B championship game, the South Hadley girls basketball team was still in search of its first lead of the night against Pittsfield.

The Tigers struggled immensely in the first half, facing a 14-point deficit at the break. They clawed back into the game, looking to fully complete the comeback as time wound down on Wednesday night.

With the fans on the edge of their seats, South Hadley brought the ball up the court as time ticked under a minute. Taylor Bullough received a pass in the left corner, pump-faking her defender and driving toward the hoop. Drawing a crowd, the junior dished a beautiful bounce pass down low to Kate Phillips, who banked in an easy layup.

South Hadley now faced a 56-55 deficit, with 45.3 seconds left. Hustling back on defense, the team got set up in its press. Bullough and Olivia Athas pressured Pittsfield’s ball-handlers in the backcourt, forcing a pass into no-man’s land.

Philips darted toward the ball, snatching it out of the air and heading the other way. She found Bullough streaking toward the rim for an easy layup, giving the Tigers their first lead of the night with just 33 seconds on the clock.

The Generals missed two free throws before Cara Dean knocked down one to extend the South Hadley lead to 58-56 with 18.3 to play. Pittsfield had another opportunity at the line, missing one shot and failing to find the bottom of the hoop again.

As the final buzzer sounded, the Tigers fully completed the comeback and were once again Western Mass champions.

“We just come and play our butts off and play as hard as we can,” South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc said. “But we told them at halftime, it has nothing to do with talent, it’s who has the most heart.”

The Tigers have dealt with adversity since the beginning of the season, starting out the year 1-5, before eventually stringing together what is now a seven-game winning streak, capped off with a championship trophy to add to the collection.

Wednesday night’s matchup was the third time this season that the two teams have faced off this season, with Pittsfield winning the first two battles. The third time was the charm for South Hadley, putting every ounce of effort into the victory.

“We knew we had nothing to lose against [the Generals on Wednesday],” Athas said. “We had already lost twice to them, and we knew we could beat them. The second time we played them, it wasn’t our game, but we came back with a full bench, and we came back strong. We believed in ourselves from the beginning.”

Athas played a huge role in the comeback win for the Tigers, scoring 13 points and serving as the team’s main ball-handler throughout the night. The sophomore was put to the test for 32 minutes, with Pittsfield maintaining an aggressive full-court press for all four quarters.

South Hadley turned the ball over constantly in the first half, with the team finally settling in and using the aggression to its advantage down the stretch.

“We had a good idea of how to break the press or how to pass around it, but obviously [the Generals] got us a couple of times,” Dean said. “But we never put our heads down and thought, ‘we can’t get past this.'”

Where a lot of teams would struggle to stay motivated, the Tigers maintained a positive mindset throughout the struggles of Wednesday night’s contest. Pittsfield did its best to take the wind out of their sails, but the team stuck together and worked through the adversity.

“We knew that we’d have to work twice as hard to get [the win],” Phillips said. “[The Generals are] a really disciplined, well-coached team at the end of the day. We just had to work together, and that’s what we did.”

The veteran leaders for South Hadley proved to make all the difference on Wednesday, with each of its main producers over the course of the season showing up on the big stage.

Dean led the Tigers with 15 points in the win, hitting three big shots from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. Ryley McMahon put together a big night for her team as well, hitting six free throws in a 10-point effort.

Phillips tacked on 12 points of her own, while showcasing her skills on the defensive end throughout the contest.

“Phillips was huge [on Wednesday],” Dubuc said. “She’s always guarding the other team’s best player… I’m proud to be her coach.”

After losing to Pittsfield in last year’s Western Mass final, getting redemption for South Hadley was a sweet way to cap off an up-and-down regular season.

Now the sights move on to the state tournament, with the Tigers hoping to build off their impressive hot streak in the Division 4 tournament.

Until then, they’ll celebrate this one.

“Our program hadn’t won a Western Mass final till two years ago, now we’ve got two in three years, and we’ve been to two state finals, so we’re ready,” Dubuc said.