The Powertown was home to a huge game in the race for the Franklin County League South girls basketball title Monday night.
Host Turners Falls High School capped a season sweep of crosstown foe Franklin Tech, scoring a decisive 53-27 victory.
The Thunder (10-4, 8-1) moved into first place in the FCL South, and control their own destiny in the league title race. Turners also won the first meeting between the two schools earlier this season.
Three players scored in double figures for Turners, which used a decisive 21-4 edge in the third quarter to turn a close game into a rout. The Thunder led just 22-16 at halftime before the third-quarter spurt.
Taylor Greene and Lily Spera each went for 16 points to power Turners, while Emily Young registered 10 points in the victory.
The Eagles (11-3, 8-2), which will need Turners to suffer another loss to have a chance at figuring into the league title hunt, were led by Kaitlin Trudeau’s six points. Hannah Gilbert (five points) and Kendra Campbell (four) also contributed offensively.
“We lost to the better team tonight,” Franklin Tech coach Joe Gamache said. “They were better than us.”
The win qualified the Thunder for the state tournament.
Turners is right back at it on Tuesday with a road game at Athol while Franklin Tech hosts Athol on Wednesday.
Frontier 70, Pioneer 68 – Joe Thomson stepped it up in crunch time, and the visiting Redhawks withstood a late Pioneer charge to score a huge Hampshire League South victory Monday night at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
Thomson scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, including the game-winning putback in the final seconds to lift Frontier to a 70-68 win.
“Thomson killed us on the boards tonight,” Pioneer coach Scott Thayer lauded.
With the score tied at 68, Thomson snagged an offensive rebound and scored with just a few ticks on the clock. Pioneer got the ball to Brayden Thayer, who had his three-quarter court heave at the buzzer hit the rim.
“I’m very proud of my guys for the effort,” Scott Thayer said. “We battled. We were really outsized, but I saw a lot of resilience in my team tonight.”
Dylan Martin went for 17 points and Tyler Dubreuil added 13 points for Frontier (11-4, 6-3), which led 32-29 at halftime and 54-49 entering the fourth.
Brayden Thayer’s 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining tied the game for the Panthers (8-4, 4-4). He finished with 12 points and five assists, while Jared Hubbard had 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Jalen McGraw, who went down with an injury in the third quarter, also scored 11 points, and Josh Wood added 11 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Potter made it five Panthers in double figures with 10 points.
Pioneer looks to score a key HL South win on Tuesday when Drury comes to Northfield. Frontier heads to Orange for a Tuesday tilt with Mahar.