GIRLS’ HOOPS
Lady Tigers rally past STM
WESTFIELD – The Westfield Voc-Tech girls’ hoops team is back on track, but it came at the expense of their friendly neighbors.
Voc-Tech rallied from two points down at the half, 18-16, outscoring St. Mary 27-15 to pull off a 43-33 victory Tuesday night.
Brandi VanGelder sparked the Tigers’ comeback with 11 second-half points to finish with 16.
Voc-Tech’s Amber Rode chipped in with 11 points, and Shannon Michael and Nadine Trand had eight apiece.
Shayna Page scored a team-high 12 to lead St. Mary. Lindsay Hunter (9 points), Monica Hannoush (7), Jeannette Peretti (4), and Emily Brown (1) scored, as well.
Gateway Regional 46, Smith Voke 12
Ali Brown (12) and Chelsea Derrig (11) led Gateway (4-1, 4-0). Eight of nine Gators finished in the scoring column.
NOTES: In junior varsity action, Southwick upended Gateway 24-10 behind eight points from Jacyln Maziarz.
BOYS’ HOOPS
Bombers post season’s best quarter
WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School boys’ basketball team has erased a Grinch-like week in the blink of an eye.
Westfield put together one of its strongest 8-minute quarters of the young season to end a two-game losing streak with a 63-53 win over New Leadership Tuesday night. The Bombers (3-3) trailed 33-29 at halftime, but outscored New Leadership, 22-6, in the third quarter to take command.
“It was really our best quarter of basketball of the year,” Westfield coach Bill Daley said. “It’s just everything we did – we shared the ball, played good defense, and rebounded the ball.”
Westfield’s Joe Meade scored a game-high 27 points. Bombers’ Justin Crosby had 12, and Wells, 10. Billy Smith returned to action after being out briefly for a broken nose.
Joe Crapps and Stephan Jackson had 18 apiece for New Leadership.
For the Bombers, it was a marked improvement after suffering consecutive losses to Central and Sabis during the holiday break.
Westfield will wrap up a four-game home stand Friday with a big game against Holyoke. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Belchertown 53, Southwick-Tolland Regional 38
Mike Pabon (13) and Tommy Mahoney (11) led Southwick (4-3), who fell behind early and stumbled at the free throw line (6-of-15). Belchertown stayed unbeaten at 8-0.
Gateway Regional traveled to Ware and Westfield Voc-Tech played at Turners Falls. No results were available as of press time.
SWIMMING
WHS swim program tops through four meets
WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School swim program is no stranger to getting off the blocks in a timely manner.
The Westfield girls’ and boys’ teams routed West Springfield on Tuesday at home with the Lady Bombers winning, 146-35, and the boys’ rolling, 130-43.
Taryn Hamel achieved her first D1 state qualifying score, 176.10, a career high, with a first-place dive for the girls. Hannah Liquori (159.95) and Casianna Arroyo (134.10) also finished with career high scores for the girls, and Evan Fouche bested even his previous highs with a first-place score of 169.75.
Jordan Jacobson led the Lady Bombers with victories in the 50 free (27.60) and 100 backstroke (1:07.09), the later netting a state-qualifying berth.
Chris Tu (200 freestyle, 2:13.3; 500 free, 6:08.15) and Matt Labombard (200 individual medley, 2:10.95; 100 butterfly, 57.75) also captured a pair of firsts – for the boys. Labombard’s times in both events met D1 qualifying status.
“We just really dominated them,” Westfield coach Tom Lewis said, “and it wasn’t our best lineup.”
The Westfield swim program, boys and girls, is still unbeaten after four meets.
“It was a good meet for us,” Lewis said, “especially after going through double practices all last week. The kids are tired and they pulled in some great times.”
