Spartans Lose Hard-Fought Matchup Against Lancers

Coming off of their only win last Tuesday, girls basketball was unable to continue their winning ways against Longmeadow.

The 57-29 loss marks East Longmeadow’s fourth on the early season.

This is the Spartans’ second loss to the Lancers on the season, their first loss being in their first game of the season, losing 62-34 in Longmeadow. 

Points leaders for each team were junior Grace Moltenbrey with nine for the Spartans and senior Gabby Kingston with 12 for the Lancers.

Moltenbrey is one of the five, first-year varsity players on the 11-player roster.

Three of the six returning varsity players are this years’ captains: senior Lorraine Cloutier, junior Talya Weiss, and sophomore Emma Gosselin.

Cloutier is the only player who has been on the varsity roster for the past three seasons, something which she says has been “really interesting.”

Having been the only player in her graduating class to play girls varsity basketball, Cloutier’s varsity journey has been a specialized one.

“I didn’t ever really know my place on the team,” Cloutier said. “But now, as a captain, I have a role to fill and a team to lead.”

Expanding more upon her duties as captain, Cloutier mentioned the topic of team chemistry being a big aspect in how the team performs.

“If we don’t have chemistry, we won’t be able to play well on the court,” Cloutier said. “We’ve been working on it, and we can already see the improvement from our first game to now.”

Cloutier’s co-captains Weiss and Gosselin reiterated this sentiment.

“Team chemistry means just as much as the game itself because if you don’t trust your teammates, you don’t have any foundation to run plays,” Weiss said. 

“The only way to succeed is if we work together as a team,” Gosselin added.

Weiss amplified Cloutier’s words on how much the team has improved since their first game of the season.

“Even though we didn’t get the right outcome tonight, there was a different energy in comparison to our first game,” Weiss said.

However, according to both Cloutier and head coach Peter Hyszczak, there has also been improvement from last year’s team.

“For me, a lot of stepping up as a leader has been about changing the culture from last year,” Cloutier said. “We had a hard season last year, but now we have a new group of girls and a strong young core. We can work and grow together to build the program for the future.”

“Last year was really difficult for us, it was a long season,” Hyszczak said. “We struggled to get wins throughout the season. With these young players, I’m hoping to see them grow and build on their game and improve as the season moves forward.”

Gosselin has already developed a mindset as to how she can lead herself and her fellow underclassmen to lots of growth throughout the season.

“I’ve stepped up by spreading positivity and leading the team to work hard,” Gosselin said. “I hope to improve on executing the things we work on in practice.”

One of her co-captains, Weiss, has also set goals for how she can improve as an individual as the season progresses.

“I hope to be more aggressive starting out,” Weiss said. “Personally, I feel like I usually pick it up in the second quarter and then finish the game. I just need to start it from the beginning because it reflects on the rest of the team.”

While coach Hyszczak has already “communicated with most of them on what they need to get better on,” he also has his own preparation ahead of each and every game.

“I watched our first film against them four times,”  Hyszczak said. “Then, I began to devise a practice plan on what I want us to work on in the game so that we’re more prepared. I’d say there’s, at bare minimum, eight hours of preparation against a single opponent.”

Coach Hyszczak and his team look to see their preparation pay off tonight at home against Belchertown.