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JERREY ROBERTS

Lauren Weston of Northampton, center, tries to keep the ball from Central defenders, from front left, Talia Arocho, A'Lece Mark and Kilandra Bass Monday. Watching in the background are Lia Bass of Central, left, and Sam Barnes, who led Northampton with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

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JERREY ROBERTS

Molly Ross of Northampton, left, shoots while defended by A'Lece Mark of Central Monday. Central won 66-44.

The Frontier Regional girls basketball team took early control of the race for the Franklin South title on Monday night.

The Red Hawks held off a Smith Academy comeback to earn the 34-32 win in South Deerfield.

Frontier (5-0, 4-0) finished second to the Falcons (2-1, 2-1) last year.

"We've played a pretty tough schedule so far," Red Hawks coach Ralph Loos said. "So it's nice to go into the (holiday) break 5-0."

Kristin Calvo led all scorers with 10 points for the Red Hawks, who held Smith to just nine first-half points.

Mel English added seven points in the win.

Abeni Davies and Allison Slysz led the Falcons with nine points each.

Central 66, Northampton 44 - Sam Barnes' first career double-double was not enough for the Blue Devils (2-3, 1-3 Valley Wheel) at home.

Barnes, a sophomore, scored a career-high 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in the loss.

Lauren Weston added 10 points and eight rebounds for Northampton, which plays at Westfield tonight.

Brisje Malone had a game-high 25 points for the Golden Eagles (3-0, 3-0), and A'Lece Mark added 15.

Hampshire Regional 46, Holyoke Catholic 31 - The Red Raiders built their lead in each of the first three quarters and cruised at Holyoke Community College.

Ashlee Moussette led Hampshire (3-1) with 13 points and six steals. Sarah Kober had eight points and 13 boards for the Raiders, and Kathleen O'Connor added six points, nine rebounds, eight assists and four steals.

Kaitlyn Veit led Holyoke Catholic (1-3) with 10 points.

Belchertown 33, Putnam 25 - The Orioles have yet to allow more than 33 points in a game as their defense helped them stay undefeated in Springfield.

Brianna DelValle led Belchertown (3-0) with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Olivia Pare had 12 boards to go with her four points.

Mahar Regional 56, Easthampton 47 - The Eagles (2-4, 2-2 Franklin South) made a furious comeback to cut a 28-point deficit to eight with seven minutes left in the game, but could not close the gap entirely.

Alicia Carter scored 20 points for Easthampton, and Steph Suchecki added 12.

Monson 64, South Hadley 31 - The Tigers (2-2, 1-2 Bi-County Central) could not recover from a one-point second quarter and lost the league game at home.

Defensive pressure by the Mustangs (3-1, 3-1 Bi-County Central) led to many South Hadley turnovers, and Monson also was dominant on the boards.

Jessica Mercier led the Tigers with 14 points, and Janelle Seitz had their only 3-pointer.