As expected, it’s a tight race in Berkshire League

By STEVE BARLOW
Two weeks into the season, the Berkshire League girls basketball race is shaping up the way most preseason forecasters predicted it would: a dogfight.
Lewis Mills, Northwestern and Gilbert were crowned the favorites and have lived up to that billing. And Housatonic has joined the conversation, too, by starting out 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the BL.
That ties the Mountaineers with Northwestern (4-0) for the early lead with Gilbert (4-1, 3-1) and Lewis Mills (3-1) right behind.
The Spartans got an important win Friday night when they staggered Gilbert with a first-quarter punch, scoring 20 points, and then held off the Yellowjackets’ comeback in the fourth period for a 50-42 win.
It came on the heels of a lackluster 38-24 loss by Mills to Northwestern three days earlier.
“We laid an egg against Northwestern, so to come back and handle this team was big,” Lewis Mills coach Al Ciarlo said.
Underclassmen like guards Abby Mills (11 points) and Lauren Alvarez (12) increased their point production against Gilbert, and Mills was able to shut down the Yellowjackets’ running game and 3-point shooting for most of the night.
While not happy with a first half that saw his team trailing, 32-19, Gilbert coach Gerry Hicks was proud of how his team responded after intermission. The Yellowjackets cut the deficit to only four with just over a minute left before their comeback ran out of gas.
“(Mills) took us out of our offensive flow and we were outrebounded in the first half,” Hicks said. “At halftime, I told my girls, ‘Show me what you’ve got,’ and I think they did. They came back and came back.”
The outcome left Mills and Gilbert both a game behind Northwestern, the defending BL champion, and Housatonic, whose early success might be a surprise to everyone except coach Steve Dodge.
“I didn’t count us out. (5-0) wasn’t a sure thing, but I knew we could compete with every team,” he said.
The Mountaineers start four seniors — Caroline Hurlburt, Sierra O’Niel, Christina Winburn and Madelynn Olownia — and are so balanced that they have had five different leading scorers in their five wins.
“No one is really going to know who to key on,” Dodge said. “You don’t know who the hot hand will be.”
Housy hasn’t faced any of the other contenders yet, but its next game is the battle of unbeatens with Northwestern. It comes after a two-week layoff, though, on Jan. 2.
Gilbert hosts Housatonic on Jan. 8 and crosstown rival Northwestern on Jan. 11, the same day the Spartans and Mountaineers clash.
Asked what lesson his team could take away from its first loss, Hicks said, “You have to come ready to play every night” — words all of the BL contenders should follow.