Housy, Highlanders both battling bug as BL final looms

BY STEVE BARLOW
WINSTED — Tonight’s Berkshire League girls basketball tournament final might be won tonight by the first team to get a clean bill of health from a doctor.
Both Northwestern coach Fred Williams and Housatonic coach Steve Dodge reported after their semifinal victories Tuesday that they had players battling illness.
The Highlanders’ Skylar DiMartino shook it off to score 11 points in a 35-33 win over Gilbert. Meanwhile, Mountaineers guard Sierra O’Niel was under the weather while going scoreless in a 42-21 romp over Nonnewaug.
By tonight’s 7 p.m. tipoff at Northwestern, who knows who else will be battling the bug, or at least the sniffles.
“It’s going around,” said Dodge. “(The outcome) is going to depend on who shows up (tonight) and who’s the healthiest team.”
Housatonic (21-1), the top seed, swept Northwestern (20-2), the second seed, in the regular season and held the Highlanders to their lowest output of the year in a 41-20 Housy win last week. Defense has been the key this season for Housy, which has only allowed 40 points once.
The Mountaineers also have a balanced offense. No one averages in double figures in scoring.
“The five people they start are all super solid players. They’re all good basketball players, and they’re a good team cohesively. They play really well together and they talk really well,” said Northwestern senior Emma Propfe.
“We have to shut down their shooter, Propfe, and also shut down the middle with (Northwestern junior Natalie) Lederman,” said Housy senior Caroline Hurlburt. “It will be a tough game. We’ll probably do the same thing, our 3-2 (zone defense) with our press. It should be an interesting game.”