Gateway's Ally Brown (25) muscles past a New Leadership player during a regular season game. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
Gateway's Kaitlyn Hirtle, left, drives toward the hoop. (File Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
Chelsea Merritt of Gateway, left, attempts to move the ball past Holyoke Catholic's Kyra Robins. While the Merritt and the Lady Gators got a taste of what it is like to play a Bi-County team - the Gaels hail from the BC-West - they will play yet another, Ware, in the postseason Saturday night on the road. (File photo by Jerry Roberts)
Paige Fairman, left, defends a Pathfinder Regional player during the regular season. (File photo by Chris Putz)
Rest assured, Lady Gators will be ready
Gateway-Ware girls’ hoops game postponed to Saturday night
By CHRIS PUTZ
Staff Writer
HUNTINGTON – Time is on their side.
While the Gateway Regional High School girls’ basketball team would like nothing more than to follow up a rousing 47-23 victory over Franklin Tech in the Gator Pit by quickly getting back out on the court, the Lady Gators will get a bit of a breather whether they like it or not.
No. 6 Gateway’s Western Massachusetts Division III quarterfinal game against the third-seeded host team, Ware, was postponed last night due to snow. The Lady Indians (18-2), who with the delay, will have not played a true contest for nearly 10 days, will take on the Gators Saturday night at 5:00 p.m.
Gateway coach Eli Robbins hopes his team can take advantage of the opposition’s potential rust from a long layoff.
“It would be nice to get a quick start on them, but we’ll see,” coach Robbins said. “It’s going to come down to our seniors again. All year we have relied on everybody. All year we’ve done a good job to share the load. (Seniors) Chelsea (Merritt), Ally (Brown), and Kaitlyn (Hirtle) will have to have big games if we want to keep going on.”
While those three seniors will be asked to provide a heavy bulk of the points, and if Gateway forward Paige Fairman can dominate the paint – an upset may not be out of the question.
One of the toughest things facing the Lady Gators will be the difference in the tempo of the game.
While play in the Tri-County tends to be a slow, grind-it-out slugfest, some Bi-County teams tend to push the ball a bit quicker, hit a few more shots, and often apply stifling pressure on defense from time to time.
“If we can handle the pressure and play our game, we’re going to be all right,” Robbins said. “We’re peaking at the right time. We just had our best game we played all season. Everything seems to be falling into place.”
Now, it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Chris Putz can be reached at [email protected]
