High schools: Northampton girls snag 60-47 road victory over South Hadley in battle of Hampshire County powers

Northampton’s Teagan McDonald dribbles against Amherst last week at the Mullins Center.

Northampton’s Teagan McDonald dribbles against Amherst last week at the Mullins Center. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

By RYAN AMES

Staff Writer

Published: 12-18-2024 9:39 PM

Modified: 12-19-2024 3:38 PM


SOUTH HADLEY — The Northampton girls basketball team powered past South Hadley, 60-47, in an independent tilt on Wednesday night.

Bri Heafey had 19 points to pace the visitors, including a team-high three 3-pointers, while Liv Joensen (15 points) and Anna Oravec (13 points) also surpassed double-digits.

"I thought tonight we played with a lot more composure," Blue Devils head coach Perry Messer said. "We got into our offensive sets. I think when we executed you saw some good pick and roll action. I thought Anna Oravec took the ball to the hole hard tonight for us and stuff, did some good things, and I was happy with our defense on the other end."

Northampton (2-1) raced out to a 17-9 lead after the first quarter and never looked back as the Tigers had trouble maintaining consistent offensive pressure.

"I thought our spacing wasn't all that good and their bigs were a little intimidating to us I think," South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc said. "I'm not going to worry about it, it's the second game of the year. We gave them the lead in the first quarter because they got second shots, third shots, and then we chased, we were chasing all game long."

Ahead 30-23 at halftime, the Blue Devils' best quarter proved to be the third as they poured in 19 points to enter the final eight minutes ahead, 49-38.

South Hadley (1-1) cut the deficit to 10 points early in the last frame, but Northampton's well-rounded offense was too much as the hosts dropped its first game of the season. Cara Dean led the Tigers with a team-high 15 points, and Kate Phillips followed with 12.

Hoosac Valley 54, Hampshire 33 – The Raiders hung around early against the defending MIAA Division 5 state champions, but Hoosac Valley used a big edge in the second quarter to pull away for a Suburban League victory on Wednesday in Cheshire.

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Hampshire (1-1) trailed just 14-8 after one quarter, but the Hurricanes used a 13-3 edge in the second to take a 27-11 halftime advantage.

Boys basketball

Northampton 59, Putnam 58 – It was an early candidate for the game of the year on Wednesday in Northampton.

Naihmond Peters-Wolfe took over down the stretch for the Blue Devils, and his breakaway hoop with just eight seconds remaining lifted Northampton to a 59-58 victory.

Putnam missed the potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, setting off a Northampton celebration.

Peters-Wolfe led the way with 28 points, 24 of those coming in the second half. Brayden Nichols-Staples also had a big night, drilling five 3-pointers en route to a 20-point outing.

The Devils (2-1) trailed for most of the second half, as Putnam led 30-28 at intermission and 43-39 entering the fourth quarter. Peters-Wolfe sank a layup with 2:00 left to give Northampton a 53-52 lead, and less than a minute later, he drilled an NBA 3-pointer to extend the advantage to 56-52.

Putnam answered with a 3 with 38 seconds to go, and after Nichols-Staples made one of two from the free throw line, Putnam drilled another 3 with 12 seconds to go that gave the Beavers a 58-57 advantage.

Northampton didn’t panic, and Eli Reid hurled the ensuing in-bounds pass the length of the court to a wide open Peters-Wolfe, who had gotten behind the Putnam defense. His bucket with eight seconds left proved to be the winner, lifting ’Hamp to a win in its Valley League opener.

The Devils look to keep it going on Friday with a home game against Chicopee.

Boys swimming

Minnechaug 133, Amherst 33 — Joe Hazlip won the 100 free in the Hurricanes’ loss to the Hornets on Wednesday in Amherst. 

Girls swimming

Minnechaug 110, Amherst 70 — Rowan Albertson won the 50 free while Better Sherr-Garcia took the 1 meter dive in the Hurricanes’ loss on Wednesday in Amherst. 

Finnley Chambers won the 500 free while Emory Albertson took the 100 back for Amherst. 

Chicopee Comp 110, Easthampton 56 – Allison St. Pierre won the 500-yard freestyle again, touching the wall first with a time of 7 minutes, 15.84 seconds to pace the Eagles on Wednesday.

Late Tuesday results

Girls basketball

Belchertown 47, Mount Greylock 33 — Six different Orioles players scored five or more points, highlighted by Morghan Litz’s team-high 10 en route to a double-digit win in the Berkshires on Tuesday night.

Aubrey Klingensmith (eight), Logan Moses (eight), Chloe LaRoche (seven), Aubrey McCain (six) and Kina Roy (five) played a key role in Belchertown’ s offense, while the defense held Mount Greylock to less than 10 points in all but one quarter (third).