It didn’t look good for the Turners Falls girls basketball team after 16 minutes of play.
Turners went into the half trailing 25-14, not getting enough stops on the defensive end as the Red Raiders were getting easy looks at the basket.
The script changed in the second half, as the Thunder held Athol to just three points in the third quarter to get back in the game, ultimately leading to a 42-38 home win.
“I told them we could win it at the half if we won the third and fourth quarter,” Turners coach Ed Marvell said. “Awesome defensive stand by everyone in the second half.”
Eighth grader Taylor Greene led the charge for the Thunder (4-9), finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Steph Peterson was a monster on the glass, snatching 11 rebounds to go along with two points. Kendra Campbell added nine points in the win.
Haley Bigwood led all scorers with 18 points for the Red Raiders (5-8), with Taylor Cleveland dropping in nine points in the loss.
Pioneer 46, Pope Francis 27 — There was no denying the Pioneer girls basketball team on Wednesday night.
On the road at a site that saw the Panthers’ season come to an end in the postseason a year ago, Steph Scoville scored 20 points and Paige Loughman tossed in 13 to lift Pioneer to an impressive 46-27 victory over Pope Francis in an independent game in Springfield.
“There were a lot of bad feelings when we got into the locker room,” began Pioneer coach Mike Churchill, referring to the team’s loss to Pope Francis in last year’s WMass Div. 4 tournament. “I told the girls, this is your chance to get back at them and they went out and did it.”
Trailing 8-5 after one quarter, Pioneer (3-6) roared back with a dominant second quarter that saw the club outscore Pope Francis by a 15-2 margin to take a 20-10 lead at halftime.
“They really imposed their will in the second quarter and right out of the gate in the third quarter to stretch out the lead,” Churchill said of his team. “The girls ratcheted up their defensive intensity and hit the boards really hard.”
Loughman pulled down a team-high 19 rebounds to go with five steals, and Scoville grabbed 15 boards as Pioneer finished with 58 rebounds as a team.
Greenfield 58, Smith Academy 40 — A solid second half and a steady diet of Katie Haselton propelled Greenfield past Smith Academy, 58-40, in an independent contest on Wednesday in Hatfield.
Haselton scored 31 points, 24 coming after intermission as the Green Wave outscored Smith by a 35-23 margin after the break.
Tina Reed and Bryanna Rivera added six points apiece in the victory, while Racquel Provost followed with five points and Tess Rancourt chipped in four.
Greenfield (7-4) led just 23-17 at the break, but Haselton poured in 14 points in the third quarter to help the visitors create some separation.
Mohawk 41, Southwick 37 — Following a rough first half which left the Warriors trailing 24-14, Mohawk kicked it into high gear during the final 16 minutes of action.
Stella Clark scored eight of her 16 points in the second half while Grace Poplawski added nine of her 10 points in the second half to lead the comeback, which culminated in a 41-37 Warrior win.
“Our defense got us back in the game,” Mohawk coach Larissa Harrison said.
Clark also had 10 rebounds and five blocks to go along with her stellar day on the offensive end.
Grace Ward had a great all-around game for the Warriors (3-9), scoring 12 points, snagging 13 rebounds and rejecting five shots.
Frontier 50, Easthampton 30 — The Red Hawks came to play on the defensive end of the floor Wednesday against the Eagles, allowing just 19 points in the final three quarters to earn a 50-30 independent win.
Amelia Sobieski had her way on offense for Frontier (6-3), finishing with 16 points on eight field goals. Marie Diemand also finished with 16 points, knocking down a 3-pointer.
Kaitlyn Mackin added 11 points in the winning effort.
The offense was out in full force for the Greenfield hockey team Wednesday night.
On the road at Lossone Rink in Easthampton, the visiting Green Wave received two goals apiece from three different players en route to a 7-4 victory over Easthampton in a Wright Division contest.
“Credit to Easthampton, there’s no quit in that team,” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “They battled hard in that third period and we were happy with the result.”
Bryan Baumann, Jacob Bryant and Sean O’Sullivan all found the back of the net twice for Greenfield (9-2, 6-0), which stayed unbeaten in league play with the decisive victory. Aidan Roche also lit the lamp for Greenfield, with Baumann notching a pair of assists. Bryant, Roche, Mike McGoldrick and Adam Savoy all chipped in a helper.
“It’s great to see the scoring spread out like that,” Bouchard said. “To put up seven goals in a game is great but to see it spread out is special. It’s great to see our depth showing up in games lately.”
Riley Drew stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced, and Josh Bordeaux added four saves after coming on in relief.
Easthampton (1-6-1, 0-3-1) was paced by Garren Fugiel’s hat trick. Both teams finished with 34 shots on the night.
Greenfield returns home on Saturday to host South Hadley at 3:30 p.m.