WESTFIELD – When push came to shove, the East Longmeadow girls basketball team pressed all the right buttons – and Westfield – to emerge victorious in the teams’ latest outing.
East Longmeadow used a full court press to rally from an eight-point, third quarter deficit to defeat Westfield, 44-39, on Wednesday evening in the Whip City.
“I think it’s a product of a combination of being young and just starting to play together,” Westfield girls basketball first-year head coach Christie Mirski said, regarding a starting lineup that featured two freshmen and three sophomores.
Mirski also said that the game ultimately came to down to Westfield “having some untimely turnovers and then [East Longmeadow] hitting some timely shots on us and us not finishing everything that we definitely should have finished.”
Freshman Ella Culbertson-Chaszar scored a game-high 18 points for East Longmeadow (6-1), including three 3-pointers. Spartans junior Grace Blais chipped in with 12 points, all in the second half.
The comeback started with a Culbertson-Chaszar second half three. She followed that up with a long range two to cut East Longmeadow’s deficit to 19-16.
Westfield (2-4) pushed the lead back to eight with two consecutive lay-ups in transition from freshman Kendall O’Brien (15 points), the second of which led to an and-one.
East Longmeadow rallied again. Blais helped spur an 8-0 run to tie the game at 24.
Blais got things going by sinking the second of two free throws with 2:39 showing on the third quarter clock. She followed that up with two straight baskets off steals and made another free throw. Another Westfield turnover led to another transition bucket for East Longmeadow and the game was tied.
Blais kept at it, giving her team the lead with a reverse layup. Senior Grace Moore hit a putback for East Longmeadow and made one of two from the free throw line with 2.8 seconds remaining in the quarter to help the Spartans carry a 29-25 advantage into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was a nail-biter until the bitter end.
Culbertson-Chaszar, Blais, and senior Sabina Mackechnie each made key 3-pointers over the final eight minutes to help East Longmeadow maintain a two-possession lead at every turn down the stretch.
Sophomore Jaylianie Santiago (14 points) and O’Brien kept Westfield in the fight with big-time baskets in transition and strong interior post moves. The two Bombers combined for all 14 of their team’s points in the final quarter.
“I think we ran transition on both sides of the floor the best we have all season,” coach Mirski said.
O’Brien’s final lay-up with 2:49 remaining gave Westfield its first lead of the fourth quarter. Culbertson-Chaszar helped East Longmeadow regain the lead with two free throws with 1:56 left. Then, with just 28 seconds left in regulation, Mackechnie beat the shot clock buzzer with a 3-point dagger.
Westfield came up short on its next possession and was forced to foul with 10.5 seconds remaining. Blais made the second of two free throws to close out the scoring.
The Bombers head coach said one of the keys to her team’s success this season will be how well her players can successfully break a defensive press.
“We have to continue to come to the basketball and not wait for it, use our bodies and be physical and make sure that we’re doing a lot of work off the ball to get open,” Mirski said. “I’m just hoping for progress that we’re already seeing. This game stings for sure, but I am liking the progress that I’m seeing.”
Westfield will look to build upon its recent successes on Friday against Hampshire Regional (4-2) at home at 7 p.m.
