MIAA basketball: Frontier Regional girls advance to D4 state championship game (Video)

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The storied quest for a state championship officially entered its final chapter for the Frontier Regional girls basketball team on Wednesday night.

In their penultimate game, the top-seeded Redhawks defeated No. 4 Millbury, 43-28, in the MIAA Division 4 tournament Final Four at West Springfield High School.

A talented, battle-tested and familiar foe is waiting for the Redhawks in the state championship game in third-seeded South Hadley. Frontier won a regular season matchup before the Tigers bested the Redhawks in the Western Mass. Class B semifinals.

South Hadley went on to win the Western Mass. championship. Frontier will play for its first state championship since 1988.

“I’ll give South Hadley their credit,” Frontier coach David Hastings said. “But we played them twice this year and we split with them. There’s not a lot that they are going to do that we don’t already recognize. I think our girls step up because they know so many of them. They play maybe a little bit harder against South Hadley then they do some of the other teams.”

The Tsongas Center in Lowell will host the championship game on Saturday at noon. An aggressive Skyler Steele led Frontier with 16 points. Nine first-half points for Steele helped the Redhawks jump out to an 18-12 halftime lead over the Woolies. Frontier never trailed in the game. Steele got loose in transition multiple times in the half, leading to easy buckets for Frontier.

“I try to be the most aggressive person on the court at all times,” Steele said. “I have come to realize that any game could be your last. Why not put everything you have into it? Just setting the tone is what I think ultimately helps me. I just think we were the aggressor tonight.”

The whole team is officially primed for its rematch with the Tigers.

“Anything can happen, but I am ready,” Steele said. “I think our whole team is ready. We want revenge. That’s going to be a good game.”

Addie Harrington got going in the second half and finished with 14 points for Frontier. The Frontier defense also did its part to limit the Woolies offense. Millbury had seven points in the fourth quarter.

“I need my teammates to do their job, and they did,” Harrington said. “I thought we did pretty well slowing them down. We got off to a rocky start with switches. But then I thought we settled in.”

In the two games against South Hadley, both games came down to the final minute.

“That’s going to be super exciting,” Harrington said. “We are both great teams. Anybody has a chance to win it. We’ll see who comes out on top. We need to play our basketball. We need to settle in and realize that we are here for a reason.”

After a quick celebration with the student section, the party continued with some dancing in the locker room which spilled out to the parking lot after the game. Beyonce’s “Diva” echoed throughout the parking lot at West Springfield High School.

Harper Modestow (10 points) scored in the paint to give Frontier its biggest lead at 37-20 early in the fourth quarter. The Woolies went on a run, getting the lead down to 39-28 after a 3-pointer by Brielle Brothers.

Modestow had an answer in the paint for Frontier, followed by an uncontested layup from Harrington on a nice pass from Steele to make the score 43-28 with one minute, 42 seconds left in the game. Rayna Horton led the Woolies with eight points.

Frontier jumped out to a 10-0 lead after a Whitney Campbell 3-pointer in the first quarter. The Redhawks offense slowed down some for the remainder of the first half. In the third quarter, Frontier outscored Millbury 17-8.