It was a sister act Tuesday night at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
Sisters Jess and Steph Scoville scored 10 points each and Pioneer Valley Regional School evened its season record at 3-3 with a 47-27 victory over Mohawk Trail Regional High School in a Franklin County League South Division girls’ hoop game.
Jess Scoville continued to do what she has done all season, while younger sister Steph had a bust-out game, notching a career-high 10 points and also grabbing five steals.
The Panthers ran into foul trouble early and a number of players came off the bench and played well, including Steph Scoville. Maddy Tyson finished with 8 points, and Alexus Vergobbe added 6.
“We got into foul trouble early but a lot of bench players came through with some good minutes and put some points board,” Pioneer coach Meg Burrington said. “That just shows that we have different options to score every night.”
Olivia Rowe added 5 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Caroline Merkle scored 4.
Ashley Reynolds led Mohawk (0-6) with 10 points. Emma Poplawski finished with 6.
Pioneer has a big game tonight at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield, where it meets Frontier Regional School. Burrington said it’s games like this that could be the difference between her team finishing with more or less than 10 wins.
“We’ve got a few bubble games that could go either way,” she cautioned. “It’s up to the girls it they want to play hard every night and get these wins. It’s a matter of getting 13 wins or 8 wins.”
Turners 58, Smith Acdemy 31 — Maddy Chmyzinski drained six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points to help Turners Falls High School to its third straight victory, 58-31 win over Smith Academy in a FCL South Division basketball game Tuesday night in Turners Falls.
The Indians (3-3) got back to .500 on the season after opening the season with three straight losses. Coach Ted Wilcox said that the team has implemented more plays on offense and gotten contributions across the board during the winning streak.
“We’ve been having very good practices, we’ve got some new plays in there,” he explained. “That always gets the excitement going, because now you have more options against certain defenses. Things are good.”
While Chmyzinski led the scoring, she was far from the only contributor. Kylie Fleming had 5 points but also finished with 13 rebounds, 6 steals and 5 assists.
“You give me those numbers and I’ve got a place for you,” Wilcox said. “And Chloe Ellis is our center and she had 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Five assists from a center? I’ll take that.”
Ellis also had 6 points, as did Abby Loynd, who shot 3-of-4 from the field and also pulled down 6 boards. Aliyah Sanders shot 6-for-9 from the field and finished second on the team in scoring with 12 points. Eighth-grader Taylor Murphy had 2 points and 3 rebounds in limited minutes.
The Indians led 16-9 after the first quarter and 31-15 at the break.
Sara Whalen led Smith Academy (1-4) with 10 points.
Turners Falls travels to Southwick-Tolland Regional High School Friday night at 7.
Greenfield 65, Ware 39 — Greenfield High School got a huge effort out of its post players and kept rolling with a 65-39 victory over Ware High School in independent girls’ hoop action Tuesday night at Nichols Gymnasium in Greenfield.
Forward Samantha Smith continued her strong start to the year with a team-high 16 points to go along with a team-high 12 rebounds.
“She is just starting to figure out how good she can be,” Greenfield coach John Hickey said.
Not to be outdone, fellow post player Molley Duclos finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Green Wave, which has won four in a row after opening the year with a loss to WMass Division III favorite Hoosac Valley Regional High School. Raegan Hickey tallied 11 points and 9 assists for the Green Wave, and Katie Haselton added 8 points.
Greenfield jumped out to a 20-4 lead but pulled the press off in the second quarter, and Ware managed to score 15 points. Greenfield still took a 37-19 lead into the break, and then put the game away in the third by outscoring Ware, 22-7.
“Things looked good at times tonight,” Hickey said.
Jordan Halgas led Ware with 19 points. Michelle Zawalski added 7.
Greenfield travels to Southwick on Tuesday.
FC Tech 33, Gateway 28 — Ashlee Townsley scored 5 points in the fourth quarter and Franklin County Technical School came back to pick up a 33-28 win over Gateway Regional High School in an independent girls’ basketball game Tuesday night in Turners Falls.
The Eagles (2-5) trailed 22-20 entering the fourth but scored 13 points in the final frame, while limiting Gateway to just 6 points.
“The girls got tough in the fourth. They scrapped on offense, played tough defense and played hard,” Franklin Tech coach Sean Knightly said. “They stuck to their play, didn’t give up and were able to execute.”
Townsley and Brooke Adams both scored 11 points to pace the winners, and Michelle Leh added 7 points.
Becca Herman led Gateway with 14 points.
Mahar 53, Frontier 26 — Mahar Regional School’s suffocating defense held Frontier Regional School to single digits at halftime and the Senators went on to post a 53-26 Hampshire League boys’ basketball victory Tuesday night at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield.
“Their defense was absolutely nasty,” said Red Hawks head coach Ben Barshefsky. “We would have had an easier time breaking into the Federal Reserve.
“(Chad’s) teams always play good D,” added Barshefsky, referring to Mahar head coach Chad Softic. “I think this year he has a nice combination of good size, quickness and athleticism.”
Mahar (8-0, 5-0 HL) built a commanding 30-8 lead by intermission and cruised to win and remain unbeaten. Bryce Cleveland was the offensive catalyst for the Senators, pouring in a career-high 25 points.
Isaak Reinikainen also aided the win by dumping in a dozen points. Sam Paul added 8.
Ben Lowe led the Red Hawks (1-5, 1-3) with 9 points. Ben Litskoski and Myles Freeman added 5 each.
Both teams return to the court Thursday night. Mahar visits Smith Academy at 7, while Frontier heads to Turners Falls High School for a 7:30 tipoff.
FC Tech 51, Westfield Tech 23 — Colin Gould poured in 27 points and Franklin Tech turned in its best defensive effort of the year en route to a 51-23 victory over Westfield Technical Academy Tuesday night in Westfield.
The Eagles (2-4) have had trouble defending this season and coach Matt Llewelyn said that team has worked hard in the week off since its last game to try and improve in that area. He also said that with so many new players on the court this season, it has also taken a little time for the club to gel.
“I think we are finally finding out our identity as a team and our roles are becoming a little more clear,” he said. “That translates into only giving up 23 points in a basketball game. We have not had a problem scoring the ball, and our whole week of prep was on defense. I’m pretty happy as a coach and they were excited as players.”
Drew Hastings and Jared Bergmann each finished with 8 points in the win, and Joel Farrick added 5.
The Eagles head to Springfield on Thursday to face Hampden Charter School.