Sarah Johnson drilled a go-ahead 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, and host Pioneer Valley Regional School saved its best stretch of play for the final period on Monday night. The Panthers came from behind to upend Southwick, 38-34, in a Franklin County League South girls basketball game at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
“We really brought a ton of energy, crashed the boards, got to the line and made big shots,” said Pioneer coach Michael Churchill of the fourth-quarter effort.
Pioneer (1-1) trailed 26-25 entering the fourth, but outscored the Rams by a 13-8 margin in the final frame for the team’s first win of the season.
“It feels great for the girls because they worked so hard as a team in this game,” Churchill said of the win. “They really played hard beginning to end.”
Paige Loughman paced the offensive effort with 13 points, while Steph Scoville did a little bit of everything with 10 points, eight rebounds and six steals. Johnson notched seven points and Alina Cecunjanin tossed in six.
Pioneer is off until Dec. 30 against Ware.
Athol 43, Narragansett 41 — Jenna St. Cyr came up with a big rebound in the waning seconds, and Haley Bigwood sealed the deal from the free throw line to lift Athol to a 43-41 victory over Narragansett in the third-place game of the Clinton Holiday Tournament on Monday night.
Bigwood earned team MVP honors after scoring 22 points for the Red Raiders (3-2), while Taylor Cleveland joined her in double figures with 10 points.
The teams were tied 27-27 at halftime and 38-38 entering the fourth quarter. Athol outscored ’Gansett by a 5-3 margin in a defensive-focused final stanza.
“It was a battle back and forth until the very end,” Athol coach Kelly Kaczmarczyk said.
The Raiders return to action with a game against rival Mahar on Dec. 30.
Smith Academy 51, Mohawk Trail 30 — Grace Poplawski dropped 22 points on Monday night, but she was just one of three Warriors to put the ball in the basket as Mohawk Trail fell to the Falcons, 51-30, on the road in an FCL West contest in Hatfield.
Stella Clark (six points) and Mya Lesieur (two points) were the other Warriors (0-4, 0-2) to light up the scoreboard.
Three Smith Academy players scored in double figures, led by Bailey McCoy with 14.
Ware 57, Turners 36 — The Indians jumped out to a double-digit lead at the half and never looked back, defeating the Thunder, 57-36, in an FCL South game in Ware on Monday night.
Eighth-grader Taylor Greene led Turners in scoring with 15 points, knocking down three 3’s and accounting for six of the Thunder’s 14 field goals in the game.
Aidan Welsh scored a game-high 24 points for Ware.
Greenfield 71, Easthampton 54 — After an even first quarter, the Greenfield boys basketball team kicked its game plan into overdrive on Monday. The visiting Green Wave got the ball inside, and big man Mason Meadows finished with a game-high 27 points to help Greenfield run away for a 71-54 victory over Easthampton in an independent tilt.
“The game plan was to get it down low and we finally started to pound the ball down there in the second quarter,” Greenfield coach Angelo Thomas said.
Tied at 13 after one quarter, Greenfield (2-0) outscored Easthampton by a 42-18 margin over the next two periods to snag the win. Henry Zwart scored 13 points in the win, while Kenny Adams (nine points), Julius Brewington (seven) and David Carey (six) all made key hoops.
Palmer 56, Frontier 47 — The Red Hawks kept it close from start-to-finish on Monday at Goodnow Gymnasium, but a few late buckets pulled the Panthers ahead. Palmer made its free throws late to derail a Frontier comeback, who fell 56-47.
Jack Letendre scored a game-high 21 points for the Panthers, burying three 3’s.
Sean Richter led the Red Hawks with 13 points while Iain Spearane and Peter Carey each had eight points in the loss.
The Turners Falls girls swimming team entered the holiday break in stride, coming away with a 67-11 victory over Sci-Tech in Constitution League action on Monday in Springfield.
It was a balanced effort for the Thunder, with four girls winning individual events.
Hannah Marchefka took first place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 37.57 seconds, and Jade Tyler was 0.9 seconds away from qualifying for the sectional championship in the 100 butterfly, taking first with a finish of 1:09.90.
First place in the 100 backstroke went to Allison Wheeler with a time of 1:23.11, and Olivia Whittier was the top finisher in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:19.35 finish.
Wheeler, Whittier, Tyler and Hannah Dziedzic took first in the 200 medley relay.
On the boys side, Turners suffered a 38-36 defeat.
Nik Martin placed first in the 200 individual medley (2:44.80) and the 100 freestyle (1:04.14). Cameron Bradley also earned two first-place finishes in the 50 free (26.63) and the 100 backstroke (1:09.47).