SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Katie Haselton show made an appearance at Goodnow Gymnasium on Thursday night.
Haselton’s dominant all-around performance lifted the Greenfield High School basketball team to a 59-47 win over Frontier Regional in Franklin County League North play.
The win kept the Green Wave in first place in the league.
The stat sheet barely could fit Haselton’s numbers against the Red Hawks. The junior shooting guard finished with 34 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, nine steals and three blocks.
With the seven assists, Haselton accounted for 81 percent of Greenfield’s points.
“This was an important game for us,” Haselton said. “For the league. We are stepping up a lot on defense. Stepping up and getting easy steals which provides easy baskets.”
The nine steals mostly led to uncontested lay ups for Haselton. She was effective getting to the line for the Wave going 11-for-12 from charity stripe.
The Red Hawks (9-4, 2-2 FCLN) started in a zone against Greenfield (11-4, 4-0). With most of the zone shading toward Haselton, she was quick to facilitate against the Frontier defense.
“The ball is in her (Haselton) hands so much, she is either going to shoot it or dish it,” Greenfield coach John Hickey said. “We try to get everybody involved. She is an unselfish player. If people are open she will get them the ball.”
Racquel Provost hit two 3-pointers in the early going. Tina Reed added four points in the first quarter and finished with six.
Provost finished with 12 points for the Wave.
At one point in the quarter, Lillia Kachelmeyer flashed to an open spot on the floor on the low block.
From beyond the 3-point line, Haselton launched a pass that knifed through the Frontier defense to Kachelmeyer who scored for the Wave.
“I want to give the younger players an opportunity,” Haselton said. “To start off with some confidence and taking their shots.”
Greenfield led 23-14 after the first quarter but Frontier coach Dave Machon made some schematic adjustments.
The Red Hawks switched to man-to-man in the second quarter with Alena Maes-Polan and Sierra Warren blanketing Haselton.
Some screens on the ball began to free up Haselton as the game progressed.
“I was quickly prepared to change it,” Machon said of his defense. “The ball screens worked. The ball screens worked. We haven’t seen a team that sets ball screens like that. It’s just something we have to prepare for going forward.”
The move slowed down the Greenfield offense in the second quarter where the Wave only scored seven points.
“We don’t see a lot of man,” Hickey said. “The kids made the necessary adjustments on the floor. We just have to do a better job moving without the ball. Setting screens away from the ball.”
The Red Hawks best offense was Amelia Sobieski and Kaitlyn Mackin in the paint. Sobieski scored 15 points with various post moves around the basket.
In the third quarter, a Sobieski score in the open floor cut the Greenfield lead down to 30-25.
The momentum energized the home crowd.
But Haselton answered quickly for the Wave with a personal 8-0 run, which included a contested 3-pointer, to increase the lead back to double digits.
Haselton finished the third quarter with 14 of her 34 points.
“She is just really athletic,” Machon said of Haselton. “She’s smart and she sees the floor. She has the will. She’s got that look in her eye.”
Mackin added 11 points for Frontier.
Warren and Marie Diemand chipped in with five points.
Frontier plays the second half of a back-to-back with a trip to play Smith Academy in Hatfield today. The Green Wave does not play again until Tuesday, when they host Athol High School.
