H.S. Roundup: Orioles overcome slow start, beat Chicopee in girls basketball matchup

BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown girls basketball team got past some early struggles to mount an impressive, 45-35 comeback win over Chicopee on Thursday night.

The Pacers ran an aggressive 2-3 zone throughout the game, giving the Orioles problems offensively in the first quarter. Belchertown mustered just two points in the first eight minutes of play, getting open looks but struggling to knock them down. The opening frame ended with the score 10-2 in favor of Chicopee.

Things changed drastically after the first quarter break, with the Orioles finding a groove on both sides of the floor. The offense settled in, moving the ball around the perimeter and hitting five 3-pointers, while the defense came out in a full court press that helped to generate turnovers.

Over the course of the next eight minutes, Belchertown went on a 17-2 run to take a substantial, 19-12 lead at the half.

“We had no energy, I thought early on; I was not happy with them after one quarter,” Orioles head coach Jason Woodcock said. “They weren’t happy with themselves. They recognized they weren’t playing to their potential. In the second quarter, we held them to two points, and woke up offensively.”

Chicopee stayed in its zone despite the Orioles seeming to have cracked the code. Belchertown continued to use quick, smart passes to get defenders off balance, with nearly every made shot for the team being assisted.

Aubrey Klingensmith played a huge role in the team’s comeback, catching fire from beyond the 3-point line and finishing with 20 points on the night.

“[Klingensmith’s] just a pure shooter,” Woodcock said. “It’s our job to find her in space. We struggled with that early on. We did a better job in the second half of finding her, and we saw her spot up over there a few times and get some good looks. We’ve got to get the ball in her hands.”

Morghan Litz found Klingensmith most often for open shots, facilitating the offense and constantly kept the ball moving. The junior also made some shots on Thursday, tallying 12 points of her own in the win.

With a solid lead, Belchertown coasted through the third and fourth quarters, backing out of the press back into a 1-3-1 zone. The team maintained the momentum it gained in the second quarter, extending the lead and eventually putting the game out of reach.

The victory improves the Orioles record to 8-4 on the season, also marking the team’s fifth win in a row. They’ll look to continue the win streak on Friday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m., at home against Pope Francis.

“As we move forward, we’re looking to try to get ourselves into the state tournament,” Woodcock said. “When you play good teams, you can’t play 10 minutes and score two points. So we’re going to have to clean that up, and we’ll just keep stressing that in practice.”

Central 66, South Hadley 42 — League play continues to haunt the Tigers in the loss against the Golden Eagles.

South Hadley has yet to win against a Valley League opponent this season (0-8).

Cara Dean’s 15 points paced the Tigers, while Olivia Athas and Kate Phillips each finished with 10 points.

Northampton 68, Longmeadow 56 — Emme Calkins dropped 30 points for the Blue Devils in Valley League action, including a perfect 16-for-16 clip from the free-throw line.

Northampton’s Anna Oravec (16 points) and Quinn Spears (10 points) aided Calkins in the scoring department as it earned its third consecutive win.

Frontier 53, Wahconah 39 — After the home win over the Warriors, the Redhawks are now one win away from a Suburban league championship. A victory over Pope Francis on Monday would clinch it for Frontier.

Addie Harrington scored 15 points with 10 rebounds, five assists, five steals and five blocks for the Redhawks (13-2, 8-0). Harper Modestow (eight rebounds, five steals) and Skyler Steele both added 13 points.

A couple 3-pointers by Rowan Reilly helped put away the Warriors in the fourth quarter.

Boys basketball

Smith Voc 59, PVCICS 54 — The Vikings roared back with 20 points in the fourth quarter to snatch the victory from the Dragons, who led 32-24 at halftime.

Dom Sanchez dropped 29 points for Smith Voc as the game’s top scorer, while teammate Nate Gruszkowski helped out with 17 points (four 3-pointers) for the victors.

Lobsang Rabten registered 27 points as PVCICS’ spark on offense in the loss. No other Dragons player reached double figures.

Hopkins 59, Mahar 41 — Three double-digit point-getters led the Golden Hawks to their fourth win in five games.

Chace Earle (19 points), Matt Vassallo (16 points) and Derek Gromacki (13 points) guided Hopkins in the victory.

Swimming

Amherst 109, Westfield 67 (girls) — Caprial DiBartolomeo served as the Hurricanes’ standout swimmer in the win over the Bombers.

DiBartolomeo qualified for the Division 1 meet in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:05.36.

Amherst 119, Westfield 32 (boys) — Jackson Tease’s time in the 100 free was good enough to earn a spot in the upcoming Fast Chance meet in the win versus Westfield.

Tease swam to a time of 1:01.30 in the short-distance event.

Palmer 104, Holyoke 32 (girls) — Katie Caron obtained two first-place finishes for the Purple Knights in the defeat.

Caron swam to first in the 100 free (1:07.03) and the 100 backstroke (1:15.41).

Palmer 83, Holyoke 64 (boys) — The Purple Knights won two of the three relay races in the loss to the Panthers.

Holyoke finished first in the 200 medley relay (1:51.66) and the 200 free relay (1:39.13) to acquire 16 points.

Alpine Skiing

The sixth PVIAC race of the season saw numerous area skiers earn top-10 finishes at Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Charlemont on Thursday.

Hazel Scully-Henry led the local girls contingent with a sixth-place finish (48.21) for Hampshire in slalom action. Amherst’s Maya Phillips (eighth, 48.98) and Northampton’s Greta Lepore (ninth, 49.60) rounded out top-10 finishers from Hampshire County.

A pair of Raiders’ skiers highlighted the boys race as Billy Warren (second, 31.78) and Elliot Scully-Henry (ninth, 35.04) raced well in the giant slalom competition.