Both Hoosac Valley's Taylor Garabedian and Wahconah's Madison McCarthy earned First Team All-Berkshire nods.
MIKE WALSH — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
You can't argue with results, and Berkshire County had them.
On the girls side of basketball this winter, the county delivered a state champion in Hoosac Valley. The Hurricanes were also once again Western Massachusetts champions, playing in a PVIAC final on the same day the Lenox and Pittsfield girls were both battling for separate Western Mass. crowns.
While only six of the county's 11 teams earned entrance to the MIAA state tournaments, four of those teams won playoff games. If it weren't for a Drury-Lenox showdown in the D-V Round of 16, there may have been a third local squad playing into the state quarterfinals.
Thus, what may have been viewed as an overall rebuilding year for girls basketball in the Berkshires, still ended up with three Western Mass. finalists. In addition to traditional rivals Drury and Hoosac Valley playing into the state quarterfinals. The Hurricanes, of course, tore the D-V bracket to shreds on their way to an 18-point state title win at the Tsongas Center.
And when we speak of the "rebuilding year," perhaps the best illustration of that is after The Berkshire Eagle's sports staff convened and selected the 2024 All-Berkshire Teams, only three of the 15 spots are occupied by graduating players.
All-Berkshire Girls Basketball Teams
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team |
|---|---|---|
| Ashlyn Lesure | Kyana Summers | Dezerea Powell |
| Jacinta Felix | Chloe Parsenios | Mia Puleri |
| Madison McCarthy | Jocelyn Fairfield | Jaelynn Walker |
| Harolyn Castillo | Emma Meczywor | Brooke Bishop |
| Taylor Garabedian | Madison Stetz | Olivia Mason |
GRAPHIC BY MITCHELL CHAPMAN
That is, however, where the All-Berkshire honorees start, with Hoosac Valley senior Taylor Garabedian.
After tasting the Tsongas Center as a sophomore, Garabedian put in the work to get her squad back to the state finals. And once she was there in Lowell, she poured in 22 points and dominated West Boylston at both ends to bring the trophy back to Cheshire. Garabedian was whatever her team needed her to be, but chief among those items was reliable. She scored 345 points over 26 games, getting held to single-digits just four times — three of those in blowout wins.
GRAPHIC BY MITCHELL CHAPMAN
Garabedian developed a killer chemistry with fellow First-Team All-Berkshire player Ashlyn Lesure. The Hoosac junior came out of her shell to provide the Hurricanes with some fire and athleticism defensively while also providing the steady ball-handler that ran their sets to a T. Lesure dropped 32 points in a key midseason win over Amherst and had 21 in the knock-down, drag-out Final Four game against Renaissance. She finished with a team-high 367 points, also playing all 26 games, putting her around 800 career points.
A third state champion headlines the Second Team, as Hoosac Valley likely doesn't do what it did without a midseason breakout from Emma Meczywor offensively.
Meczywor entered the year as a key 3-and-D player for coach Jon Frederick but found her stride in late January and rode it through to Tsongas. She was a menace to Amherst twice, scored 22 in the Western Mass. title game and 14 in the Final Four, which is what she averaged over eight playoff games.
