SPRINGFIELD — Just one win separates Greenfield High School from a third straight trip to the Curry Hicks Cage.
The seeds for the Western Massachusetts Basketball Tournaments were released on Saturday at the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Green Wave led the way on the girls side. Greenfield, last year’s Division 3 runners-up, earned the No. 4 seed in this year’s field and a bye into the quarterfinal round of the bracket. The team will host a quarterfinal game on Thursday night against the winner of No. 5 Sabis (11-9) and No. 12 Easthampton (12-8), with that first-round game set for Monday in Springfield.
“In the past, historically, the Walker (System) really hasn’t been too favorable to us,” began Greenfield head coach John Hickey. “We went 19-1 three years in a row and the highest we got during that time was a 4-seed. So being 15-5 this year and (a No. 4), that was kind of a surprise.”
Greenfield, which lost to Hoosac Valley in last year’s title game, has put itself back in solid positioning to make another deep run despite heavy losses to graduation. Junior Katie Haselton is the leading scorer in Franklin County, and the team has rallied around her down the stretch with players throughout the lineup stepping up during the month of February.
“I think this year’s team has exceeded all expectations,” Hickey said. “At this point in the season, I couldn’t be any prouder of the girls and what they’ve accomplished so far. I think if we do what we’ve been doing and come focused, we’re in control of our own destiny to get back to the Cage.”
After an initial error by the tournament committee due to having an incorrect record, the seeds shifted a bit further down the bracket in Division 3.
Locally, No. 8 Frontier will host a first round game Monday when the Red Hawks (14-6) welcome No. 9 Palmer (10-10) to South Deerfield. Frontier lost the regular-season meeting between the two sides, 53-42, at home on Feb. 5.
Mahar, seeded 10th in the D3 field after a 12-9 season, will travel to play at No. 7 South Hadley (9-11). The two teams did not meeting during the regular season.
The winner of the Frontier-Palmer game will travel to top-seeded Wahconah (16-4) in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, while the Mahar-South Hadley winner heads to No. 2 Hampshire (13-7).
Defending champion Hoosac is No. 3, and the Hurricanes also earned a bye and will play the winner of No. 6 Granby (10-10) and No. 11 Mount Greylock (10-10) in the quarterfinal round.
“In my mind, everything still goes through Hoosac,” Hickey said. “They’ve earned that sense of fear from the success they’ve had over the years.”
In Division 4, Franklin Tech (18-4) was rewarded for its fine season with the No. 5 overall seed. The Eagles will host No. 12 Pathfinder (12-8) in the opening round Monday, and a win would set up a quarterfinal game against the winner of No. 4 Lee (11-9) and No. 13 St. Mary’s (11-7).
“We were pleasantly surprised and pleased with the seed that we earned,” Franklin Tech coach Joe Gamache said.
Monday’s game with Pathfinder will be the third meeting between the Tri-County League North foes. The Eagles swept both regular-season contests, though the most recent meeting was a 40-37 nail-biter on Feb. 11.
“It’s nice to have a familiar opponent but that’s not a team that we’re going to take lightly,” Gamache said of Pathfinder. “As far as teams we’ve played in our league, they gave us two of the closest games all season.”
Pioneer (10-10) rounded out the local sides, as the Panthers drew the No. 10 seed in the field and will travel to No. 7 McCann Tech (11-9) for an opening-round game Monday, with the winner set to play either No. 2 Ware (15-5) or No. 15 Gateway (10-10) in Thursday’s quarterfinal.
“It’s where we expected to be,” explained Pioneer coach Mike Churchill of his team’s seeding. “We lost a couple games earlier in the year so when you’re 10-10, you expect to be playing on the road. You’d love to be at home in front of your crowd but as far as getting a road game goes, I don’t think anyone is intimidated on our team. Defense travels well and we’ve played defense down the stretch.”
Pioneer and McCann met way back on Jan. 10, with the Hornets capturing a 49-40 victory in North Adams. A lot has changed since then for the Panthers, which used a late-season flurry to win their final three games and earn a postseason invite.
“I don’t think the atmosphere is going to surprise the girls,” Churchill said. “We’ve been playing win or done since the Putnam game, two on the road. Playing another elimination game on the road, the girls understand how that works.”
Monson (18-2) drew the No. 1 seed in the D4 field.
“They are the clear-cut favorites, I don’t think it was any secret they were going to be the top seed,” Gamache said of Monson.