AMHERST — For the third season in a row, Greenfield High School will play in a sectional title game.
Following championships in softball and field hockey, Saturday’s WMass Division 3 final on the hardwood would be a historic third consecutive crown.
Senior Olivia Joy has had a prime seat for all three title runs. After pitching the softball team to a championship and playing a key role on the field hockey team, she once again made her presence felt in Wednesday’s nail-biting 55-53 semifinal win over top-seeded South Hadley.
“It’s been crazy,” offered Joy of the school’s run of success. “We’ve all really been together since middle school. For our teams to be good at three sports like this, it means all the hard work and effort we’ve put in these years is really paying off.”
While the Greenfield “Big 3” of Samantha Smith, Raegan Hickey and Katie Haselton combined for 40 of the team’s 55 points against South Hadley, Joy had her moment to shine.
With the Wave clinging to a 53-50 advantage in the waning seconds, Hickey received a pass with her team escaping South Hadley pressure. The point guard looked up and saw a defender in her path. She also saw an open Joy standing under the hoop. Hickey sent the ball over to her teammate, who banked in a layup with just 11 seconds remaining. The hoop, her second field goal of the night, sealed the deal, giving Greenfield an insurmountable 55-50 lead.
“I wasn’t thinking about the score,” recalled Joy of the pressure-packed moment. “I knew it was a big basket so I wanted to take a deep breath and just relax. I don’t take a lot of shots. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. I just told myself to relax.”
It was not Greenfield’s smoothest outing of the season by any means. Hickey carried the torch in the first half, scoring 16 of her 18 points before intermission.
Smith, who had just four points at halftime, saved her best for last. The senior wound up with a game-high 21 points, 13 of them coming in the fourth quarter as the Wave overcame a late deficit. She also made her last five shots from the floor.
Haselton was also slowed early. She was 0-for-4 from the floor in the first half, going scoreless in the first 16 minutes. But in a flash, the sophomore guard came through with two huge baskets in the fourth quarter. Her 3-pointer with 2:43 remaining gave Greenfield a 46-43 lead, and her jump shot with 46 seconds to play made it a 52-47 advantage. She finished with 11 points on the night.
“They’re just so good,” offered Joy of the team’s “Big 3.” “They work through everything. Things didn’t go perfectly for all three of them, but they fought through. And that’s how they are. No matter what the situation, they find a way.”
That’s why Joy said she never lost faith in Wednesday’s victory. Not when South Hadley led 37-32 with 7:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, not when the Tigers retook the lead up 43-42 with 3:40 to play. There was never a time in the semifinal game where Joy gave up hope.
“I’m really confident in our team,” Joy said. “We always fight until the end. Early on it was a struggle but we were always there for each other. And now we’re heading to (the finals) again.”
And now Greenfield will play perennial power Hoosac Valley (18-4), the No. 2 seed, in Saturday’s championship game back at the Curry Hicks Cage on the campus of UMass (2:15 p.m.).