GREENFIELD — It wasn’t the ending the Greenfield girls basketball team hoped for on Tuesday against Hoosac. 

The Green Wave held a 57-46 lead over the Hurricanes with just over five minutes to go when Greenfield star Amber Bergeron — sitting 16 points away from hitting the 1,000 point mark — exited the game with an injury. 

With Bergeron out of the game, Hoosac — the top-ranked team in the MIAA Div. 5 power rankings — closed the game out on an 18-3 run, scoring a pair of baskets off steals in the final minute to earn a come from behind 64-60 victory at Nichols Gymnasium. 

Despite the loss, Greenfield coach Ben Johnson noted how hard his team played and fought against one of the top teams in Western Mass. 

“Even when Amber went down the girls played hard,” Johnson said. “They never quit and never went down. They battled for all 32 minutes and gave it all they had. We started hitting shots, we dug in defensively. If we play like that we’ll compete against a lot of teams once the Western Mass. and state tournaments come around.” 

After trading points following Bergeron’s departure, Hoosac’s Emma Meczywor knocked down a 3-pointer and got in the lane for two, Taylor Garabedian scored inside and Ashlyn Lesure drained a 3. Suddenly, in a two-minute span, Hoosac cut the lead to 59-58 with three minutes to play. 

Anna Bucala got fouled and made a free throw for Greenfield but Lesure later forced a steal and made the layup to tie the game at 60 with 45 seconds to go. 

Meczywor came up with a steal on the ensuing Green Wave possession and laid it in to give Hoosac a 62-60 lead, its first advantage since the first quarter. 

Greenfield was unable to get the go-ahead basket and Lesure iced the game with two free throws with one second on the clock. 

The Green Wave couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game. 

Bergeron came into the contest 32 points shy of 1,000, but with the Hurricanes doing all they could to take her out of the game, Greenfield had to go elsewhere offensively and the Green Wave players stepped up. 

Trailing 13-12 after the opening eight minutes, Greenfield went on an 11-0 run to open the second behind a bucket from Carly Blanchard, a 3 from Gloria McDonald, free throws from Amber Bergeron and Tayler Bergeron, a basket from Tayler Bergeron and a jumper from McDonald to build a 24-15 lead. 

Hoosac cut the lead to 26-22 but Greenfield closed the quarter on another big run. Tayler Bergeron made a pair from the charity stripe, Amber Bergeron sank a free throws, Tayler Bergeron scored back-to-back baskets and McDonald drained her second 3 of the game, giving the Green Wave a 36-22 lead at the half. 

Amber Bergeron — who had six points at the half — got going in the third, scoring eight points in the frame to help Greenfield extend its lead to 53-35 going into the fourth. 

Amber Bergeron and McDonald each finished with 16 points for the Green Wave. Tayler Bergeron scored 14 points, Carly Blanchard tallied nine points while Anna Bucala scored seven points in the loss. 

“Defensively, offensively we played well,” Johnson said. “The beginning of the year we really worked on our offense and that came along. We’ve really picked up the intensity on defense. This time of year is when you want to be playing your best. We played hard tonight and worked well as a team. One-through-five, we all battled with the best team in the state.” 

Taconic 44, Franklin Tech 34 — After scoring 18 points in the first quarter the Eagles were held to 16 points the rest of the way, as the Thunder pulled away with an independent win over Tech on Tuesday in Pittsfield. 

Hannah Gilbert scored 16 points, Lea Chapman tallied nine points and 21 rebounds while Kyra Goodell recorded four points, five rebounds and five steals in the loss.  

Boys basketball

Four Rivers 51, BART 26 – It’s onto the championship game for the Otters.

Top-seeded Four Rivers took down Berkshire Arts & Technology in decisive fashion in the River Valley Athletic League semifinals on Tuesday night in Greenfield.

The Otters will play No. 2 Eagle Hill in Thursday’s RVAL title game at Mohawk Trail Regional (4:30 p.m.). The two teams split a pair of regular season games, and Eagle Hill got past Four Rivers in last year’s championship game.

Isaiah Goleman led the Otters with 16 points on Tuesday night. Meir Dragon joined Goleman in double figures with 10 points, while Cooper Whitney added nine points in the win.