SOUTH HADLEY — Paige Marjanski found herself surrounded by Mahar defenders in the post, when she spotted South Hadley teammate Olivia Marion wide open under the basket.
Marjanski made the pass and Marion scored the easy layup off the glass to give the seventh-seeded Tigers their largest lead with just over two minutes remaining in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Girls Basketball Tournament first-round game.
The Tigers never looked back from that point and defeated the 10th-seeded Senators, 54-46, Monday night.
Marjanski earned every one of her surrounding defenders as she led the Tigers with 13 points, five of which came from the free-throw line. Dominating both the offensive and defensive glass, she battled for a series of second-chance points and often drew fouls that sent her to the line.
While the lead was large toward the end of the game, it fluctuated throughout.
“We go up by 10 and then we’re not happy with that so we let them cut it down to three and it goes back-and-forth,” South Hadley coach Paul Dubuc said. “Mahar played great, you don’t go 16 straight years in the playoffs — which they have done — with winning records, mind you, and not be good or afraid to go on the road. I’ve got a lot of respect for them.”
Saylor Kegans finished with a team-high 10 points for the Senators. Micalyn Mailloux also had nine points for Mahar, which finished its season 12-10 overall.
“I’m very, very proud of the girls, I really am,” Mahar coach Larry Fisher said. “We’ve been up and down, we dropped a couple games that we shouldn’t have, but to play a team of this caliber and to play in their own gym, we played with them. If the ball rolled a couple times differently, it would’ve been different.”
The teams sprinted up and down the court the whole game, both showing off an athletic full-court press in a blazing hot gym.
The Tigers’ student section did their best to make sure that home-court advantage was a factor while also embracing the heat of the gym. Decked out in beach-themed clothing, the students cheered on their team while jeering any call made against them.
South Hadley began the game running after winning the tip and found Marion (10 points), who sprinted to the basket for an uncontested layup.
The noise from the Tigers didn’t stop MaryAnne Prescott, who splashed two 3-pointers as Mahar ended the first quarter down 12-7.
Prescott added another 3-pointer and scored all nine of her points in the first half for the Senators, who trailed 25-20 at the break.
With under two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Mahar’s Delaney Parker (nine points) splashed a 3-pointer to cut the Senators’ deficit to 39-36.
However, a quick start to the fourth quarter for South Hadley, thanks to a 3-pointer from freshman Alex Jackson (11 points), pushed its lead back to a comfortable advantage.
South Hadley (10-11) will play at No. 2 Hampshire Regional (13-7), Thursday at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals.