Belchertown's Emma LeBlanc, right, drives the ball under pressure from Amherst's Erin Klaes Jan. 5, 2018 during a girls basketball game at Amherst Regional High School. Belchertown's Quinn Roche looks on, at back center. —GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY
Belchertown's Elise Pikul, left, goes in for a shot under pressure from Amherst's Mayouri Yath Jan. 5, 2018 during a girls basketball game at Amherst Regional High School. —GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY
Belchertown's Sam Birks, front, controls the ball under pressure from Amherst's Maddie Shea, left, and Kasey Bumgardner Jan. 5, 2018 during a girls basketball game at Amherst Regional High School. —GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY
Amherst's Petea Mukimba, back, tries to put a shot past Belchertown's Emma LeBlanc Jan. 5, 2018 during a girls basketball game at Amherst Regional High School. —GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY
Amherst's Maddie Shea, left, goes in for a shot under pressure from Belchertown's Libby White, center, and Quinn Roche Jan. 5, 2018 during a girls basketball game at Amherst Regional High School. —GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY
@kylegrbwsk
AMHERST — Emma LeBlanc eventually put the keys in the ignition.
The Belchertown girls basketball team started slowly against Amherst Regional Friday night.
The Orioles trailed the Hurricanes for the first half and few minutes of the third quarter when LeBlanc missed a 3-pointer down two points. Amherst grabbed the rebound, but LeBlanc, who finished with a team-high 12 points, stole the ball back and finished a layup through traffic with a foul.
She made a free throw with 4 minutes, 52 seconds remaining to give the Orioles their first lead.
After some back and forth, Belchertown gained some breathing room and prevailed 38-35.
Elise Pikul canned a 3 at the third quarter buzzer to put the Orioles (3-5) up 30-24 going into the last quarter.
“We got back up and were like, ‘We’re in this now, we need to win,’” she said.
They weren’t in the game at the start.
Amherst raced out to an 8-2 lead in the first five minutes. Both teams turned the ball over often, but the Hurricanes (3-4) finished with layups.
“We played our game in the first half at our pace,” Amherst coach Dustin James said. “I think that’s one direction where we’re at our best.”
Erin Klaes, Amherst’s leading scorer, netted six points on contested layups in the first quarter. She didn’t score again after that.
Belchertown knew it needed to contain Klaes, so the Orioles opened the game in a diamond-and-one defense with Pikul on her. The Hurricanes exploited that with Petua Mukimba in the post and backdoor cuts. Belchertown coach Jason Woodcock then shifted the defense to a box-and-one to control those cuts and Amherst’s players in the post.
“Elise literally neutralized (Klaes),” he said. “Erin is a tremendous player who can make shots from the parking lot, but Elise is a phenomenal athlete that plays bigger than she is.”
Belchertown fought back within a possession at halftime, trailing 20-17.
Mukimba, who finished with a team-high nine points, picked up her third foul 34 seconds into the second half. James left her in the game.
She committed an offensive foul with 5:36 remaining in the third quarter for her fourth. James called her to the bench as soon as he could.
“We work inside, and when those looks go away we have to step it up,” James said.
Belchertown gained the lead for the first time less than a minute later. The Orioles built a six-point lead 1:45 into the second half, and Mukimba took the floor eight seconds later.
“It couldn’t go any farther than that for us to have a chance to win the game,” James said.
Mukimba made three free throws in the final seconds to pull Amherst within three points. Amherst fouled, sending Pikul to the line up three.
She missed the first shot off the back rim.
“I thought, ‘Oh man I gotta make this or it’s not gonna be good,” Pikul said.
The second shot caromed off the front rim and into teammate Lily White’s hands. Woodcock normally doesn’t play both her and Quinn Roche late in games, but he wanted the size. It paid off with that offensive rebound, Pikul’s rebound of White’s miss inside and one more White rebound and miss before Amherst secured possession with 0.5 seconds left.
“It felt like we took six shots in the span of three seconds there when all we had to do was hold the ball,” Woodcock said. “It worked.”
Amherst inbounded the ball but couldn’t attempt a shot. The buzzer sounded with Madison Layer holding the ball looking up the court.
“With our roster, day to day is a process and an ongoing effort from everybody to get better,” James said.
The Hurricanes next play at South Hadley at 7 p.m. Monday.
Belchertown hosts Palmer on Monday and Mahar on Tuesday, both at 7 p.m.
“We’re clawing our way back,” Woodcock said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.
