Behind a strong press and a stellar all-around team performance, the Franklin Tech girls basketball team earned a 59-31 Tri-County League North victory over Pioneer Valley Christian on Friday in Turners Falls.
Jordan Hurlbert notched a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, while Jocelyn Crowningshield scored a game-high 16 points and snagged eight steals for the Eagles (4-1, 1-0).
Gemanaia Cruz added 14 points and nine rebounds in the win, Emily Ryan had two points, five rebounds and four blocks and Isabelle Duga scored four points while grabbing seven steals and dishing five assists.
“We played a solid game all-around,” Franklin Tech coach Joe Gamache said. “Our guards did a nice job of breaking their press and our post players had strong games.”
Hopkins 55, Mahar 42 — Colin Earle drilled seven 3-pointers en route to a game-high 24 points, and host Hopkins Academy pulled away in the second half for a 55-42 victory over Mahar in a Hampshire League South contest Friday night in Hadley.
Hopkins (2-2, 1-1) led just 20-18 at halftime, but outscored the Senators (1-3, 0-1) by a 35-24 margin in the second half.
Charlie Barnes’ 12 points paced Mahar. Zack Notre tossed in seven points and Jacob Tenney followed with six.
“We are just really struggling offensively and we are playing very undisciplined basketball at both ends of the floor,” Mahar coach Chad Softic said. “We need to work through it and find something that works and I’m sure we will. Hopefully it will be (Saturday) against Athol.”
The Hawks sank 10 3-pointers on the night.
Belchertown 60, Turners 47 — The combination of a short bench and foul trouble proved to be too much for Turners Falls on Friday night, as the visiting Thunder were unable to climb all the way back in a 60-47 Hampshire League South loss to Belchertown.
Turners (2-5, 0-2) trailed 32-18 at halftime but used a full court press to cut the deficit to single digits in the second half.
“We played pretty well in the second half but kind of ran out of gas,” Turners assistant Jay Liimatainen said.
Jordan Lanoue scored a game-high 27 points to lead Belchertown (2-2, 2-0).
Anthony Peterson paced Turners with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Marcus Sanders also had a big night with 16 points. Jaden Whiting added seven points for the Thunder, which return home to play Hopkins Academy on Tuesday.
Nik Martin earned three first place finishes to lead the Turners Falls boys swim team to a 32-15 win on the road over South Hadley on Friday.
Martin was the first finisher in the 200-yard IM (2:38.42), 100 free (1:05.55) and was part of the winning 200 free relay with Camden Bonnett, Cameron Bradley and Austin Sumner.
Bradley took first in the 100 fly with a Western Mass. qualifying time of 1:01.85.
• The Turners girls swim team didn’t fair as well against South Hadley, falling 69-23.
Jade Tyler qualified for Western Mass. in the 200 IM with a 2:31.38 swim. She also qualified in the 100 fly with a time of 1:08.94.
Olivia Whittier had two first place finishes on Friday, one in the 50 free (28.40) and another in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.30).