TURNERS FALLS — A laborious comeback pulled Turners Falls High School to within two points at the end of the third quarter Monday night, but that’s when Pioneer Valley Regional School took back control of their Western Mass. girls’ Division IV basketball tournament first-round game.
The Panthers scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter and held Turners without a point for over five minutes, expanding their lead to 11 points and going on to secure a 42-35 road victory over the Indians. That followed a split of the teams’ two regular-season meetings.
Caroline Merkle scored 11 points and Jess Scoville added 10 for ninth-seeded Pioneer (10-11), which made the game safe with numerous cold-blooded free throws. The visitors hit 19-of-25 in all from the line, including 8-of-11 in the fourth quarter. Alyssa Llewelyn and Brianna Jobst each pitched in with seven points.
“I believe that was one of our best foul-shooting games, and what a game to have it,” said Pioneer coach Meg Burrington. “They’ve been working hard all week, and it paid off.”
Meanwhile, Turners (10-11) scuffled mightily to a 6-of-26 tonight at the charity stripe, offsetting the Indians’ 12 made field goals to Pioneer’s 11. Maddy Chmyzinski threw in a game-high 23 points, including nine each in the first and fourth quarters, and knocked down four 3-pointers.
“You’re not going to win with 20 missed free throws and over 20 turnovers,” said Turners coach Ted Wilcox. “We just couldn’t make a shot in the fourth quarter. It stings, but we got here with sophomores, freshmen, eighth-graders … It’s been 22 years and I don’t want them to be just glad to be here.”
Indeed, No. 8 seed Turners reached Western Mass. tournament play for the first time since 1994, with likely the youngest team of any of this year’s qualifiers.
Chmyzinski scored all nine of Turners’ first-quarter points, including a pair of 3-pointers, before Pioneer’s Amelia Marchand made a foul shot with 10.3 seconds left to put the Panthers up 10-9 at the quarter break.
The Panthers then began the second with two free throws by Alexus Vergobbe and a layup by Jobst for a 14-9 lead, forcing a Turners timeout. The Indians answered with a jumper by Abby Loynd, but that was their last field goal of the half, as they managed only two free throws over the last 6:51.
Merkle made two free throws and scored inside and Llewelyn added a putback and a late free throw, as the Panthers built an eight-point halftime cushion at 21-13.
It was Turners’ turn to apply the defensive clamps coming out of intermission, as the Indians outscored Pioneer 10-4 in the third quarter and held the visitors to one field goal. From a 25-17 deficit, Turners scored the last six of the quarter, getting a dotted-line jumper from Aliyah Sanders, an old-fashioned three-point play by Chmyzinski and a free throw by Hailey Bogusz.
Pioneer had gone without a hoop for over five minutes before Logan Anderson came off the bench to knock down a right-corner three to make it 28-23, then Merkle struck for an inside basket and a three-point play wrapped around an Indians’ timeout. Marchand’s free throw completed the key 9-0 run, putting Pioneer up 34-23 with 3:03 remaining.
“That momentum really can just pick a team up, hitting a big three,” said Burrington. “We played every possession like it was a tied game. We had different girls step up at each possession. That intensity and that heart came through.”
Turners wouldn’t score in the fourth quarter until Lexi Lacey drained a 3-pointer with 2:50 to go, and Chmyzinski made 1-of-3 free throws to pull the hosts within 34-27 at the 2:21 mark. Jobst then hit both ends of a one-and-one and two more at the line to re-establish the Panthers’ 11-point lead, which held up despite a pair of 3-pointers by Chmyzinski in the last 1:03.
Pioneer earned a date with top-seeded Ware High School (17-3) in Thursday’s 7 p.m. Division IV quarterfinal in Ware. Not much separated those two squads in their regular-season meetings — Ware won narrowly twice, 47-45 in Ware on Dec. 21 and 40-38 in Northfield on Jan. 29.
“That’s the team I’m excited to play,” said Burrington. “We’ve lost to them twice this year, by two points each. We know we can run with them. It’s just a matter of turning that corner and getting a W.”