H.S. roundup: Franklin Tech boys and girls advance at Eagle Classic

The Franklin Tech boys basketball team opened it season with a 53-29 win over St. Mary’s at the Eagle Holiday Classic on Thursday night.

The Eagles jumped out to an early advantage and eventually built a 28-8 halftime lead. In the fourth quarter, the Saints made a small run and cut the lead down to 11 points.

That’s when Hunter Donahue went supernova on the Saints. Donahue connected on three straight 3-pointers to help bury St. Mary’s. It’s not often that Donahue shoots for volume.

“I’ve never been that type of shooter,” Donahue said. “I just hit one and I was feeling it. So I just kept shooting.”

Brady Santana had just made a 3-pointer for the Saints to cut the lead to 40-29. From there, Brody Hicks knocked down a pair of free throws before Donahue’s marksmanship closed out the game.

“I was just in the zone,” Donahue said. “I was just shooting and feeling myself. But it definitely helped the team when it was close.”

The third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter allowed the Saints to get back into the game. There are things to clean up before Franklin Tech plays Mount Everett in the championship game at 6:30 p.m.

“In the first half we talked on defense and we played helped defense,” Franklin Tech coach George Gutierrez said. “We used our defense for our offense. We came flat with no energy in the third quarter. Our defense slowed down. We didn’t talk. We didn’t help. We let them get open shots.”

Mount Everett defeated Hopkins Academy, 61-47, in the early game. Gutierrez enjoyed seeing his team pull away in the fourth quarter, especially when most of the offense stemmed from forced turnovers on defense.

“He (Donahue) just got hot and wasn’t scared to take the shots,” Gutierrez said. “Our defense picked it up in that fourth quarter. We started getting steals and scoring off our defense. That energy just flows into our energy and our offense.”

Donahue finished with 20 points for the Eagles. Hicks scored 12 points while Nolyn Stafford dropped 11 for Franklin Tech.

Frontier 71, Ware 34 – Max Millette dropped 36 points in the season-opening road win for the Redhawks.

Alex Ellis added 16 points in the independent win for Frontier. Ty Skroski chipped in with seven points.

Girls basketball

Franklin Tech 50, St. Mary’s 34 – Brayleigh Burgh did not care that it was her first varsity start. Burgh dropped a career-high 26 points for the Eagles in the win over the Saints at the Eagle Holiday Classic.

“I was just pumped,” Burgh said. “I was ready to go.”

Franklin Tech trailed early. But things changed after halftime.

“During halftime we had a whole big chat about what we could do better,” Burgh said. “We got hyped. Even NBA or WNBA players..it takes a lot of tries for it to go in. Even if you miss you don’t give up on yourself. You got to keep shooting.”

The Eagles seemed to get comfortable after made shots, which allowed them to set up their press and create turnovers. The frenzied pace allowed a 9-0 run in the second quarter and a 12-0 run in the third quarter.

“It was good,” Franklin Tech coach Joe Gamache said. “It brought some life, some energy to the bench and the crowd. The kids kind of fed off it. We definitley had first game jitters. But we worked those. We are going to have our work cut out for us tomorrow.”

The Eagles play Mount Greylock in the championship game at 8 p.m. on Friday.

Mount Greylock 66, Athol 26 – The Bears got eight points and two steals from Ava Adams in the loss at the Eagle Holiday Classic.

Madeline Desrosiers and Abigayle Spooner each added six points for Athol. The Bears will play the consolation game against St. Mary’s on Friday at 5 p.m.

Mohawk 56, Turners Falls 16 – Emmalee Inman scored 20 points in the home independent win for the Warriors.

Sadie Wilcox added 10 points while Natalie Lanoue chipped in with nine. Autumn Thornton scored eight points with two 3-pointers for the Thunder.

Granby 43, Greenfield 22 – The Green Wave lost their season opener in independent play on the road.

Gloria McDonald led Greenfield with six points. Tayler Bergeron and Natalia Cody each added five points for the Wave.

Northampton 60, Frontier 36 – The Redhawks couldn’t hang with the Blue Devils in their season opener at home.

Addie Harrington scored 19 points for Frontier in the independent match up.

Mahar 40, Narragansett 34 – The Senators prevailed in their season opener at home.

Hayden Comeau led the way with 19 points and seven rebounds. Taylor Paluk had six points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the independent contest.