Pittsfield Girls Hammer Old Rochester in State Quarter-Finals
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Caprese Conyers and and Harolyn Castillo zoomed by Old Rochester Regional, 77-31, in Friday's Massachusetts Division 3 Elite Eight game.
The Pittsfield High stars each scored 17 points to lead the fifth-seeded Generals into next week’s Division 3 State Semi-Finals, where they will face top-seeded St. Mary’s of Lynn, a 59-37 winner over East Bridgewater on Thursday night
Pittsfield was coming off a strong defensive outing against North Reading on Tuesday and kept its momentum going through Friday's contest.
“I told the girls after Western Mass this year that the state playoffs is a whole new season,” Pittsfield coach Kristy Conyers.
The Generals scored the most total points they have in the playoffs with 77 and clinched the program's first Final Four spot since 2017.
Despite the blowout, Old Rochester Regional kept the game very close early on, only trailing by three going into the second quarter.
Hannah Thorell was Old Rochester’s high scorer of the night with 8 points.
Pittsfield, when only obtaining a 3-point lead going into the second, drastically changed, scoring 23 points in the second, followed by another 23 points in the third and finally 17 points in the fourth.
The Generals outscored Old Rochester by 56 points over the final three periods.
Dezerea Powell, a senior, had herself a day in the paint scoring 11 points in the closing quarters.
When asked how she turned her game around after the first few games this is what she had to say.
“I was in my head all season, knowing that today if we did not win we would go home,” Powell said.
“I was not ready for the season to end so soon, so that really motivated me today.”
Bre’Jai Ellerbee scored 15 points, and six different Generals finished with at least eight.
Kyana Summers scored just eight points but still ended up with a double-double, collecting 10 assists and 11 steals.
Pittsfield last went to the Final Four in 2017, under the old sectional tournament format, when it won Western Mass with a 69-44 victory over Belchertown before falling to Central Mass champion Medfield in the state semi-finals.