by Jim Fenton, The Enterprise
BROCKTON – The undefeated Massasoit Community College women's basketball team has reached the hectic part of its schedule.
Starting Thursday night and continuing through Saturday afternoon, the Warriors are playing three games in the span of less than 48 hours.
Ranked second in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 3 poll, Massasoit kicked off the busy stretch with a 90-58 victory over Gateway Community College of New Haven Thursday at the Asiaf Field House.
The Warriors (17-0) will be right back on their own court Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. to play Monroe College of New York City and has another game Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. against the University of Connecticut Avery Point.
"I planned it that way,″ said coach Mark Leszczyk of three games in three days. "To win a national championship, which is our ultimate goal, you've got to win three in three days. I scheduled this, three in three days, to test them.
"If we win all three, great. If we don't, we're in a pretty good position record wise.″
Massaoit took the lead for good at 6-5 on a drive by Alyson Reid 2:12 into the game after Gateway held an early three-point lead.
The Warriors were ahead, 24-13, after one quarter and bumped the margin to 24 at halftime, 55-31.
Sophomore Ty Hawkins led the way once again for Massasoit against Gateway, scoring 39 points, getting 14 in the second quarter and 13 more in the third quarter. She made four 3-pointers and connected on seven foul shots.
The Warriors held Gateway to 12 third-quarter points and opened a 77-43 advantage. Hawkins scored 13 straight points for Massasoit when the lead went from 57-38 to 70-40 in less than four minutes.
Hawkins ranks third nationally in Division 3, averaging 33.1 points in 17 games.
"Ty is something,″ said Leszczyk. "There's some days I may think she has 21 and you look in the book and she's got 40.
"She's just a natural scorer. She can shoot the three. She can get in the paint. She's amazing player.″
Three other players were in double figures with Aliza Bell getting eight of her 14 points in the first quarter to get the Warriors going. Adrianna Grant had all 12 of her points in the first half, hitting a pair of 3-pointers, while Shardaja Collins also had 12, scoring six in each half.
Massasoit is averaging 94.6 points per game while allowing teams just 48.9 points. The Warriors have reached 100 points seven times, and the closest margin of victory was 10 points against Division 2 Union County.
The Warriors get everything going from their pressing defense, which results in an average of 23 steals per game, one of the best numbers in the nation.
That was in evidence against Gateway, which continuously turned the ball over in the face of Massasoit's pressure defense.
"We're so small that we have to be that pesky, full-court defensive kind of team,″ said Leszczyk. "We have to score off turnovers and score in transition.″
With only seven players on the roster, the Warriors need to avoid foul trouble and injuries, and so far, they have managed to do just that.
"We usually wear teams down,″ said Leszczyk. "Our girls are in shape, so we wear them down after a while. If a team gets off to a good start on us, we think by the time the 40 minutes is over we'll be the better conditioned team.″
After playing three straight days this week, the Warriors will have four regular-season games to go.
Massasoit is hosting the four-team Region 21 tournament on Feb. 29 and March 1 with the winner advancing to the NJCAA tourney in Rockford, Illinois starting March 12.
