LOWELL – After a third-quarter skirmish lit a fire under Hoosac Valley, the Hurricanes rallied from eight points down to win their second straight Div. 5 title Sunday.

Thanks to a complete team effort and some timely buckets in the fourth, No. 2 Hoosac Valley defeated No. 5 Renaissance 64-57 at Tsongas Center to win their fourth state title since 2019.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the group,” said Hurricanes coach Jon Frederick. “We were a MASH unit throughout the season. … Everybody did their parts. Everybody knew their job and it was a great team from the start of the season to the end.”

With Renaissance (24-1) nursing a 39-30 advantage, both sides tussled over the ball with a couple Hoosac Valley (22-3) players getting the worst of it. This led to Sy’nye Baker, Camila Alverado Colon and Aaliyah Robinson getting ejected for the Phoenix with 4:47 to go. Hurricanes’ senior captain Emma Meczywor (11 points) also got a technical before sinking 3-of-4 free throws.

“We were riled up in a good way,” Meczywor said about being able to keep focus after the extracurriculars on the floor. “We had a lot of energy. I got that tech, but it didn’t really matter because we had the energy that completely swung the game in our favor.”

Hoosac Valley continued to chip away and trailed 43-39 after three before making it a one-possession contest several times early in the fourth as a short bench for Renaissance pushed the lead out to 54-48 as seventh grader J’Dore Reese (13 points) hit a layup.

From there, Hoosac Valley pushed the tempo on both ends and went on a 16-3 run with no basket bigger than a Meczywor layup to give the Hurricanes their first lead since the first at 58-56 with 1:38 remaining.

“It’s so cool,” said Meczywor about her team’s ability to rally. “Every day we had every player coming, every player giving 100% and that showed out on the court.”

The Phoenix tried to rally, but with star eighth grader Zi’Yan Wallace (20 points, 15 rebounds) already fouled out earlier in the third, it was too much to get any momentum against a tough full-court press from Hoosac Valley.

Hoosac Valley was led by senior captain Ashlyn Lesure (18 points) and sophomore Reagan Shea (15 points) with 20 of those 33 coming in the second half.

With Hoosac Valley battling in the first, Renaissance finally put a foot down and started a 15-0 run on a three-pointer for eighth grader Zi’Yan Wallace to make it 8-6, The lead was pushed to 20-6 before Hoosac Valley cut the deficit to 22-9 after one as sophomore Zh’Nai Wallace was given her second technical with 24.3 ticks left in the first.

Both teams struggled from the field in the second as the Hurricanes hit 3-of-12 from the field with all three from beyond the arc while the Phoenix hit 4-of-13 from the field as the lead stood at 35-22 at the half before the emotions took over in the third for a young Renaissance squad.

“We saw what happened (after the three ejections),” Frederick said. “The kids got disengaged. They got a little frustrated and then their emotions came out the other side. It’s tough. They want to win. So, I wish it would have never happened that way. We could have just played ball. But again, if you want to play that kind of ball, then we’re going to play that kind of ball with you.”