By Kevin McCaskill Jr.
Wednesday’s matchup in East Longmeadow was suppose to be Tuesday’s matchup in East Longmeadow. The game on Tuesday was postponed until Wednesday due to inclement weather.
The Chicopee Comp Girl’s team made the short journey south and were poised to take on the Spartans from East Longmeadow. This is the first time I’ve seen East Longmeadow since “Championship Saturday” at the Curry Hicks Cage; I’ve never seen the Chicopee Comp Girl’s play.
Even though the Spartan Girls have one more home game, they decided to celebrate Senior Night tonight and FP SPORTS was privileged to be in attendance.
East Longmeadow honored Seniors Alyssa Cafaro and Aylee Weiss. They were both on the team that got to the Western Mass. Finals last year. [There will be no MIAA sanctioned/sponsored tournament this season; first reported by FP SPORTS].
Tonight started how some other games have started, a 7-0 run by the home team. East Longmeadow did whatever they wanted in this game. They shot open jump-shots and got in the paint consistently. Chicopee Comp’s defense was decent in the paint but the Colts struggled getting their defensive rebounds. In turn, East Longmeadow lived on the offensive “glass”.
Chicopee Comp struggled to generate any offense all night. All the girls on Comp played hard and competed until the final buzzer. Their shots weren’t falling and East Longmeadow’s press/perimeter defense sped up Comp all night.
Two players to watch out for next season on East Longmeadow are Juniors Emilia Ramos and Chianna Doung. Duong is a good shooter and has a nice bounce in her step on the court. Ramos is skilled at taking the ball to basket and navigating in the lane; she can also shoot a nice jump-shot. Both of them play good team defense. A full off-season should gear them up for a big Senior season 2021-2022.
(Emilia Ramos driving to the basket)
Even though the two Seniors who were celebrated tonight only scored a combined 4 points, they still made a significant impact on the game. Weiss handled the ball a lot and set the pace for the team in transition and in the half-court offense. Cafaro played great defense, especially in the paint.
Scorers for East Longmeadow:
Chianna Duong & Anna Maccarini - 8 points each
Ainsley Smith & Emilia Ramos - 6 points each
Emma Catanzarite - 4 points
Alyssa Cafaro, Abby DeVoie, Caitlin Dowd - 3 points each
Aylee Weiss & Gabby Michalski - 1 point each
Scorers for Chicopee Comp:
Adriana Correa-Berly - 10 points
Alyssa Candy - 8 points
Legacy Edger & Mariah Rodriguez - 2 points
Raquel Terrazas, Kayla Nhiv, Andrea Samson - 1 point each
Correa-Berly is a Sophmore at Comp. She is another player with a promising future if she continues to play. She is competitive on both ends and has good dribbling skills. If she can improve her play-making ability - getting her teammates easy shots - and potentially some more help (maybe some Girls didn’t play this season; transfers 🤷🏽♂️), Comp can be a good team next season. Mariah Rodriguez also played well on both ends of the floor.
(Correa-Berly shoots a FT)
After the game I spoke with EL HC Peter Hyszczak and his two Seniors Weiss and Cafaro.
⚪️HC Peter Hyszczak🔴
Keys for Victory tonight...
“Playing tough ‘D’; getting to the basket, we didn’t settle for 3s all night.”
Thoughts on being back on the sideline:
“It’s been awesome; I got a great group of girls. They work their butts off every second they are out here. They’re fun to be around and they enjoy each other’s presence. We have a lot of fun at practice...and its nice to just be out and having sports. It’s good to be back in the gym...and having something positive especially in the kid’s lives when something so crazy is going on.”
How have your Seniors been leaders this year?
“I couldn’t have asked for 2 better leaders. They send the Freshman uplifting texts during the day. They are super-organized and they help keep me organized - that’s how good they are.”
🔴Aylee Weiss⚪️
How have your 4 years been in the East Longmeadow 🏀 program?
“They have been terrific. I couldn’t have asked for better teammates and coaches and people to push me to my limits to make me the best player I am”
How did you get the victory tonight?
We pushed the ball and made good passes. We took care of the ball. We were able to finish and if we weren’t, we grabbed the rebound, put it back up and got the points.
[Weiss wants to play basketball in College. She is looking at a school in Eastern Massachusetts].
🔴Alyssa Cafaro⚪️
How have your 4 years been in the East Longmeadow 🏀 program?
“My 4 years were great. The first year was a little rocky ‘cause I was the lone Freshman on Varsity. Our teammates made this year the best year possible. We are all such a close group and a nice group of girls. I love it.”
[Cafaro’s basketball career may come to end after this season. She is going to play lacrosse in College. She has some options in Western Mass to pursue her lacrosse career].
I’m back in East Longmeadow on Thursday for undefeated Paulo Freire @ undefeated East Longmeadow.
Wilson Jr. and Johnson vs. Carter & Shaw 👀
🏀
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