by Jim Fenton, The Enterprise
BROCKTON –- The Massasoit Community College women's basketball team seemed destined for a trip to the national tournament last season.
The Warriors had been ranked No. 1 in the country for nine straight weeks and entered the postseason with a 19-2 record, losing only to teams from Tennessee and New York.
Their opponent in the Region 21 final last March 3 was the University of Connecticut Avery Point, a team Massasoit had easily defeated twice in the regular season by 33 and 31 points.
But with a trip to the eight-team National Junior College Athletic Association Division 3 tourney on the line, the Warriors were stunned by UCAP, 84-82, and their 20-3 season came to a sudden halt.
One year later, Massasoit has again been the dominant team in Region 21, going 22-0 and is ranked No. 2 in the country, winning by an average of 47 points per game.
The Warriors' closest game was a 10-point victory over Union County College, a Division 2 program, and they have scored at least 100 points nine times.
After the shocking finish to the 2018-19 season, coach Mark Leszczyk is making sure his current team, which has just one returning player, is on guard.
"We learned a hard lesson last year that's still stuck in my gut,″ said Leszyczk, who is 42-3 in two seasons at Massasoit. "You never know.
"They've been hearing about (what happened last season) all year. Basically, never take a team for granted. It's hard to do. These are athletes who are still young in their careers. It's just natural if you beat a team twice in the season it's naturally to think we're much better than them and it'll be a cakewalk and it's not going to be.″
Top-seeded Massasoit is hosting the Region 21 tourney, which takes place this weekend at the Peter Asiaf Field House.
The Warriors play Bristol Community College (15-8) on Saturday at 11 a.m. with second-seeded UCAP (18-8) taking on third-seeded Bunker Hill (13-12) at 1 p.m. The two winners play Sunday at noon with a trip to the nationals March 12-14 in Illinois on the line.
Massasoit owns two wins over Bristol, 104-70, on Dec. 2 and 121-37 on Jan. 23.
"It's being drilled into their heads,″ said Leszczyk. "What happened during the regular season doesn't matter at all.″
Alyson Reid is the lone player who returns on a team that also has five freshman and a transfer, Ty Hawkins, who is second in the nation with 31.5 points per game while averaging 5.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 4.3 steals.
Shardajah Collins scored 18.6 points while Adrianna Grant averages 13.7 points and 9.6 rebounds and Aliza Bell has a team-best 10.5 rebounds. Massasoit uses quickness to make things difficult for opposing offenses, averaging 22.2 steals.
Massasoit, the only unbeaten Division 3 team in the nation, is the clear favorite to win the Region 21 tournament, but that was also the spot it was in one year ago.
"We're undefeated and that's wonderful, but from a coaching standpoint it's a horror show,″ said Leszczyk. "I was talking to my assistants the other day, and as far as we can remember, with the exception of the score being 4-2 or something like that, the furthest in a game we've been behind was 16-10 to Union in the first quarter.
"We've never played from behind. We were rarely in tight games this year. That can happen in the playoffs, and when things get tight, the pressure is on the favorite, not the underdog.
"That's what happened last year. It was a tight game. Our kids didn't expect it to be a tight game so as the pressure built, they tried to force things and that led to bad decisions. The other team has nothing to lose.″
Leszczyk won a national championship when he coached at Roxbury Community College, reaching the title game five times, and would like nothing better than to get his Warriors into the tourney in Illinois next month.
"I couldn't be any happier with this team,″ he said. "This is, by far, one of the best groups of kids, forget basketball, that I've had. They're great students, they get along real well, they're fun to coach.
"This group is really special. Anything short of our ultimate goal of getting to the national tournament would be a disappointment because I want to experience that with this group of kids. They've earned it and I want to coach them longer than two more games.″