Top seeded 'Cane girls must stay fresh
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SPRINGFIELD - The Amherst Regional girls basketball team has prided itself all year on having intense practices that more than replicate game-day conditions.
If the Hurricanes (20-0) are going to be crisp in their first game of the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament, they will need those types of practices to overcome a 12-day layoff.
As expected, Amherst was awarded the No. 1 spot at Saturday's basketball seeding meeting, but there is a catch this year. Since there are just seven teams in the Division 1 field this year, the Hurricanes will not play until the semifinals on Tuesday, March 2, a dozen days since they wrapped up their perfect regular season with a win over No. 5 Chicopee Comp on Thursday.
"It's going to have to be some really intense practices," Amherst coach Christal Murphy said. "We've been trying to work harder in practice than we would have to in the game. That's how you improve."
The Hurricanes will await the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal matchup between the Colts (12-8) and No. 4 Pittsfield (15-5).
After Thursday's win, Amherst senior Jenna Klaes said the burden of being undefeated should not bother her squad in the playoffs.
"We need to know that every game is just like a regular game. We're not going to get ahead of ourselves at all," said the point guard said. "Just play each game, hopefully our shots will fall, and keep playing defense."
Classmate Alyssa Leonard, a 1,000-point scorer, said that being undefeated does not matter once the tournament starts.
"We just have to take it one game at a time and know that we were 20-0 in the regular season, but that doesn't mean anything in the postseason," she said. "There are seven teams and they all have the same goal. We just have to want it more and work hard every day the way we have all season."
Amherst is one of two teams to take perfect records into the postseason. For the second straight season, Palmer enters the Division 2 tournament at 20-0.
The Panthers, who won the 2008 sectional title, hope this season ends better than last, when they were eliminated in the semifinals by eventual champion Monument Mountain.
Franklin South cochampion Frontier Regional (18-2) was awarded the No. 2 seed in Division 2 and will host the winner of the first-round game between No. 7 Belchertown (13-7) and No. 10 Mount Greylock (12-8) in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Orioles will host the Mounties at 7 tonight.
Hampshire Regional took the No. 8 seed after a 12-8 season and will host No. 9 Mahar (12-8) in the first round at 7 tonight.
In Division 3, perennial Berkshire County powerhouse Lee (19-1) took the top seed after earning its first-ever outright Berkshire North title. The Wildcats' lone loss came to Amherst early in the season.
Smith Academy, which went 18-2 and tied Frontier for the Franklin South title, is the No. 2 seed and awaits the winner of Monday's first-round game between No. 10 Pathfinder (14-6) and No. 7 McCann Tech (12-8). The Falcons will host a quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Hopkins Academy (15-5) took third in the Franklin South and is the No. 4 seed behind No. 3 Sabis (17-3). The Golden Hawks host No. 13 Dean Tech (8-8) in a first-round game at 7 tonight.
Holyoke Catholic (11-9) won the Bi-County West title and is the No. 8 team according to the Walker Statistical Instrument used to seed teams in western Massachusetts.
But the tournament committee, as it has done at times in the past, decided to reward the Tri-County League champion, in this case Gateway Regional (16-2), with the No. 8 seed and a home game in the first round.
The Gators will host the Gaels in Huntington at 7 tonight.
GAME PREVIEWS - Complete game-day previews of every western Massachusetts girls tournament game will be posted on the high school sports blog at www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports.
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com. Get high school news delivered to your Facebook newsfeed at www.facebook.com/gazette.hs.
