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By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — When the final buzzer sounded to signal the end of the UMass men’s basketball team’s regular season, which ended in a 74-51 loss to Loyola Chicago on Saturday afternoon at Mullins Center, the arena’s staff immediately began tearing up the floorboards of Jack Leaman Court to get ready for the Minutemen’s hockey game at 7:30 p.m.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — Two years away from the NCAA Division 3 Women’s Basketball Tournament felt like an eternity for Amherst College and head coach G.P. Gromacki.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — The Smith College women’s basketball team once again earned the right to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Division 3 Women’s Basketball tournament following its fifth straight NEWMAC tourney championship. The Pioneers have hosted Round of 64 and Round of 32 games for the past three seasons, so this winter makes it four in a row.

By GARRETT COTE

After defeating George Washington in their regular season finale on Feb. 26, the UMass women’s basketball team completed a turnaround for the ages and earned the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

By GARRETT COTE

SOUTH HADLEY — Paul Dubuc thought he wrote Cara Dean’s name down on the board as part of the list of starters for the third quarter on Tuesday night. Dean, a sophomore, is a regular in the South Hadley girls basketball team’s starting lineup. Dubuc turned to his bench and asked, “where’s Cara,” after the first possession of the second half. She was sitting down waiting patiently to get subbed back in.

By GARRETT COTE

GRANBY — A see-saw first half between the No. 3 Granby boys basketball team and No. 19 Rockport ended with an 8-2 Rams run thanks to a pair of Cody Breault 3-pointers. Granby headed to the locker room ahead 29-23. The two sides traded field goals out of the break to make it 31-25, then Vikings guard Josiah Whitley took over.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — After walking through the ground-level door of Ainsworth Gymnasium, up a flight of stairs and through the first-floor doors, you’re immediately met with five trophies staring right back at you. The two on the end are NEWMAC championship trophies. The three in the middle? A pair of Division 3 Women’s Basketball Final Four trophies and a national-runner up one.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — Each member of the Smith College women’s basketball team climbed up the ladder to cut down a piece of the net on the home side of Ainsworth Gymnasium following the No. 1 Pioneers’ 79-66 victory over No. 6 MIT in the NEWMAC championship game on Sunday afternoon.

By GARRETT COTE

BOSTON — The Amherst Regional girls 4x400-meter relay team will go down in history as one of the best units western Massachusetts has ever seen.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Getting consecutive stops on the defensive end felt almost impossible for the UMass men’s basketball team through 30 minutes of action. Rhode Island used a 3-point barrage and timely Sebastian Thomas drives to the hoop to build a 77-67 lead with 10 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the second half.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — How does five in a row sound, Smith College?

By GARRETT COTE

HOLYOKE — The No. 13 Holyoke boys basketball team entered the second half of its MIAA Division 2 Round of 32 matchup with No. 20 Wakefield ahead 46-32. Although the Purple Knights felt great about where they stood, starting forward Chauncey Ruiz, who put up 10 first-quarter points to kickstart the night, had four fouls.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — The Smith College basketball team has its eyes set on a fifth consecutive NEWMAC tournament championship, and the Pioneers started their quest off on the right foot on Wednesday night at Ainsworth Gymnasium. Smith, the top seed in the NEWMAC following an unblemished 11-0 conference record, used 21 points and 11 rebounds from Ella Sylvester to get past a pesky No. 8 Coast Guard team, 70-62, in the quarterfinals.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — UMass men’s basketball head coach Frank Martin confirmed Thursday that senior forward Daniel Rivera would miss the remainder of the regular season with a knee injury. The third-year Minutemen head coach didn’t offer a timetable for Rivera’s return, but did say that he had been playing through an injury for about a month.

By GARRETT COTE

HATFIELD — Nothing was going the No. 26 Smith Academy boys basketball team’s way through nearly three quarters of play in its MIAA Division 5 preliminary round matchup with No. 39 Community Charter School of Cambridge. And when a Cougars player banked in a 3-pointer from the top of they key to give the visitors their largest lead of the game at 45-31 late in the third frame, the mountain seemed almost too steep to climb.

By GARRETT COTE

CHARLEMONT — Tuesday marked the end of an era for the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School alpine ski team. For the first time in the program’s history – boys or girls – there won’t be a Scott on the team next season. Juliet Scott helped start the team in the winter of 2018 when her younger brothers, twins James and Teddy, were in sixth grade. The two were both on the inaugural boys team that season, and have been a part of the Dragons squad ever since.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Emotions continued to run high well past the 40 minutes of action between the UMass women’s basketball team and Rhode Island. The two rivals had not only just played their last-ever Atlantic 10 matchup, but it was also the Minutewomen’s senior night – where they recognized Stefanie Kulesza and Mikenzie Jones. Head coach Mike Leflar and Kulesza both shed tears in the post game press conference following UMass’ 42-40 loss to the Rams on Sunday afternoon at the Mullins Center.

By GARRETT COTE

It feels like an eternity ago that the UMass men’s basketball team was in the mix for a second consecutive double bye in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. Back on Feb. 4, the Minutemen gave away a late lead to Saint Louis with third place in the conference on the line. They beat La Salle the very next game, but have since dropped four in a row – losing by an average margin of 18.5 points.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTFIELD — It will go down as the greatest comeback in Granby boys basketball program history.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTFIELD — It wasn’t a secret that the No. 2 Northampton girls basketball team would have its hands full against top-seeded Springfield Central in Saturday’s PVIAC Class A final. The Blue Devils had lost 10 straight to the Golden Eagles coming in, including a pair of decisive defeats already this winter.