GRANBY — The champions are still standing.

The No. 8 Granby girls basketball team suffered a 50-40 loss to No. 9 Hoosac Valley in the Round of 16 of the MIAA Division V State Tournament on Monday night.

Hoosac, two-time defending state champs, surrendered their string of Western Mass. Class D titles in February, losing in the PVIAC semifinals to a Pioneer Valley Christian team that went on to lose to Granby in the title game. But come state tournament time, the Hurricanes are a tough out.

In the second quarter, the host Rams continued to struggle, as the Hurricanes got out to a lead. Hoosac's defense was aggressive as soon as Granby crossed the half-court line, turning its stops into buckets on the other end and widening the lead to 10 points with under a minute till the half.

Brenna Moreno did her best to keep Granby in the game, nailing a pair of 3-pointers right before the half ended. Heading into the break down 23-19, the Rams knew how important their response at the beginning of the third quarter would be.

Unfortunately for Granby, the third frame brought on even more offensive woes, shooting just 1-for-15 from the field. Hoosac did well to keep the Rams on the perimeter, playing physical around the hoop to prevent any easy shots.

On the other end, the Hurricanes got into a groove, finding success on the fastbreak and getting into the paint in the half-court. Heading into the fourth, Hoosac's lead ballooned up to 38-27.

"[In] that first half, we just struggled; we were forcing things way too much," Hurricanes head coach Jon Frederick said. "We settled them down going into the second quarter. The defense was working exactly as we wanted it to, which was great. Then we just started to get into a rhythm."

Genevieve Lagess played a huge role in the big middle quarters for Hoosac, tallying all of her game-high 18 points between the second and third quarters. The sophomore used her strength to dominate around the rim, making eight shots in the win.

"[Lagess] is tough, when she goes to the glass," Frederick said. "... She's a little hard to defend. [She's] not the natural athlete that you're seeing down low. So it was good. She's been our rock down low all year, and that's really what we expect of her."

With the win, the Hurricanes move on to the state quarterfinals, set to take on No. 1 Drury. After losing to their upcoming opponent twice earlier in the regular season, the team is hoping the third time's the charm.

"We progressively got better, which is good for us in the sense of, [Drury] beat us in the first game pretty handily; the second game was much closer than I think everyone expected," Frederick said. "We'll see where the third one goes. But that place should be packed, and it'll be a great environment for the kids, whoever wins or loses."

———

Hoosac 8 15 15 11 — 50

Granby 8 11 8 13 — 40

HOOSAC VALLEY (50)

Klose 0-1-1, Lagess 8-2-18, Jagiello 2-0-5, Witek 2-6-8, Shea 3-6-13, Tart 1-1-3. Totals 16-16-50

GRANBY (40)

White 2-9-13, Moreno 4-4-15, Cook 2-0-4, Szlosek 2-0-5, Curran 1-1-3. Totals 11-14-40.

3-pointers — HV 2 (Jagiello, Shea); G 4 (Moreno 3, Szlosek).