Greenfield High School used a strong second-half effort to blow past Auburn High School, 46-27, in an independent girls’ basketball Saturday in Auburn.
The game was originally scheduled as the third-place game in the Hoosac Valley Holiday Tournament but was postponed due to weather back in late December.
Greenfield’s offense struggled in the first half and the Wave held a slim 17-15 lead at the break. The Wave took control of the game in the third quarter by outscoring Auburn 18-7 to move comfortably in front.
Colleen Cutting scored a game-high 19 points for Auburn, nearly matching her per-game season average of 20. Wave coach John Hickey said he was thrilled that his defense was able to limit the rest of Auburn’s players to just 8 points.
“This was our best game yet,” he said. “Cutting got 19, but it was a tough 19 and we shut the other scorers down.”
Raegan Hickey had 12 points, 7 assists and 4 steals to lead the Green Wave (7-1). Samantha Smith tossed in 10 points, Katie Haselton netted 6 with 4 steals, and Molley Duclos notched 8 points.
Mt. Everett 48, Pioneer 45 — Mt. Everett Regional High School hit 5 of 5 fourth-quarter free throws to hold off Pioneer Valley Regional School, 48-45, in an independent girls’ basketball game Saturday in Northfield.
Pioneer held a 24-22 halftime lead but Mt. Everett went into the fourth quarter with a two-point lead after outscoring the Panthers, 15-11, in the third. Pioneer had chances to come back in the final 8 minutes, but while Mt. Everett was perfect from the line in the fourth, the Panthers struggled, making just 2 of 7 from the stripe.
Gwen Carpenter had a big game for the Eagles with a game-high 19 points, including a 6-for-7 effort from the line, 3-for-3 in the fourth. Kelsey Netzer added 9 points.
Olivia Rowe led a balanced attack by the Panthers with 12 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Amelia Marchand finished with 9 points, and Jess Scoville had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots. Caroline Merkle notched 6 points to go along with 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks, and Brianna Jobst added 4 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
Pioneer 53, Mt. Everett 38 — The Pioneer Valley Regional School defense sparked a big second half and the Panthers defeated Mt. Everett Regional High School, 53-38, in an independent boys’ basketball game Saturday at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
The Panthers held a 30-25 halftime lead but held Mt. Everett to just one third-quarter point while scoring 10 themselves to put some distance between each other.
“It was us getting back to doing some fundamental stuff,” Pioneer coach Scott Thayer said. “We had a little more purpose and our communication was better.”
Another difference between the first and second half was rebounding. Pioneer had just 9 rebounds as a team in the first half but nearly tripled that number in the second, finishing with 26.
Mike Menard had a big day for Pioneer, hitting three 3-pointers to finish with 13 points and 7 rebounds, both of which led the team. Jake Hill tied Menard for the team lead in rebounding with 7 and he also scored 4 points. Tucker Llewelyn finished with 10 points in the win, Bryce Dobosz netted 6, and Jake Willis had 5 points and 5 rebounds.
Cavan Brady netted 15 points for Mt. Everett.
Drury 72, Greenfield 36 — Simply battling Drury High School would have been tough enough for the Greenfield boys’ basketball team.
Having to deal with illness and injuries in addition to the Blue Devils was far too much.
The Green Wave was missing star player Kevin Mendez in addition to a handful of players due to illness and injuries, and two more players were hurt on Saturday, during the Wave’s 72-36 loss to Drury in North Adams.
Greenfield was down 16-10 after the first quarter but Drury outscored the Wave, 27-4, in the second quarter to all but bury the visitors by halftime.
Reece Racette poured in a game-high 29 points in the win, and Hayden Bird tossed in 21 as the two accounted for much of the scoring.
Connor Joy finished with 12 points, 6 assists and 4 steals for Greenfield. Zack Avery netted 10 points, and Adam Phelps and Tyler Boissonneault each finished with 5.
Wahconah 52, Frontier 44 — Brandon Roughley scored 18 points Saturday to lead Wahconah Regional High School to a 52-44 win over Frontier Regional School in an independent boys’ basketball game in Dalton.
Luke Steinman finished with 17 points in the win, and Tom Burris tossed in 6.
Myles Freeman led Frontier with 15 points and Carsten Carey had a double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Ben Lowe added 8 points, and Keaton Warren had 9 assists.