EASTHAMPTON - For one quarter, Hopkins Academy's Kate Sullivan looked like a freshman still battling the illness that kept her out of the Golden Hawks' previous game.

For the final three quarters, she looked like a seasoned veteran on both ends of the court, anchoring Hopkins' come-from-behind 46-32 victory over Easthampton in a big Franklin South contest.

The victory avenged a 44-41 overtime loss to the Eagles in Hadley on Jan. 9.

"I was so excited. I just wanted to play well. We've been looking forward to (the game) and practicing hard for it," said Sullivan, already in her third year on the varsity squad as a freshman. "I feel much better. (The bug) went around the whole school."

Sullivan set the tone defensively at the top of the Golden Hawks' full-court press and led the offense with a game-high 18 points to put her squad alone in first in the league.

"I'm up there (at the top of the press) because of my long arms, but you have to stay home and hope to get tips. Hopefully, that leads to a layup for us," she said. "If they beat us, then they get a layup. There's a lot of pressure, but we just try to play hard and get stops."

Hopkins (13-5, 13-3) hosts Mohawk Trail (3-12, 3-12 Franklin North) on Friday, Feb. 17 and then wraps up its regular season at Athol (12-6, 12-4 Franklin North) on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Meanwhile, Easthampton (14-4, 11-4) plays at Mohawk on Monday, then heads to Greenfield (0-16, 0-16 Franklin South) on the 17th before finishing up against Mahar (18-0, 16-0 Franklin North) at home on the 21st.

Sullivan and twin sister Mackenzie were both sick and missed Hopkins' 59-18 win at Greenfield on Tuesday and the entire team looked sluggish in the first 8 minutes Friday.

"I really thought (the Sullivans) had to get their legs underneath them in the first quarter and then they started picking it up and picking it up," Golden Hawks coach Fred Ciaglo said. "The energy of the crowd and the game, I think helped them get going."

Hopkins trailed by six heading into the fourth quarter, but outscored the Eagles 22-2 in the frame to pull away with the win.

Kate Sullivan immediately cut the deficit in half with a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the frame and added a free throw 54 seconds later.

Mackenzie Sullivan finally evened the score for the first time since 2-2 with a 15-footer from the left side with 5:28 left.

"We knew what they were going to do, we practiced it all week and we just didn't do what we needed to do," Easthampton coach Jay Fortier said. "It's very reminiscent of what we've done in three other games this year in the fourth quarter. That's OK. These kids have got to learn to win. It's difficult. They've never been in this position before. They've got to learn to put games away."

Hopkins took the lead on a Madi Stevens free throw on the following possession and the Golden Hawks kept rolling, pulling ahead 38-30 before Steph Suchecki (four points, eight rebounds) finally ended Easthampton's scoring drought with 1:38 left.

Stevens got to the line again, however, and made both sides to push the lead back to eight and Hopkins held the Eagles off the board the rest of the way despite getting limited minutes from point guard Emma Konienczy due to foul trouble.

The defense forced 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter and 24 overall.

"We did a good job of not letting them get out and run for three quarters," Fortier said. "But then they outrebounded us and we turned the ball over and they were able to get out and run."

Mathieu finished with nine points, five rebounds and five steals, while Kate Sullivan had six rebounds and five steals.

Elizabeth Whitney led Easthampton with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Ali Dabek had seven rebounds to go with four points.

Easthampton took control early with strong ball movement, rebounding and defense, and led 13-2 after the first quarter.

But Hopkins unleashed its press late in the frame and slowly got back into the game in the second quarter.

"It's tough to press when you don't score," Ciaglo said of the first quarter. "We started getting it going and we said we had to pick the tempo up and set the tone. We needed to get right in their faces, make them put it on the ground and go somewhere. That was a key, picking that tempo up."

Easthampton led by 13 with 3:09 left in the second behind six free throws by Whitney (four) and Dabek (two).

Kate Sullivan responded with a fast break off a turnover created by Stevens (six points, three steals) and then knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:35 left in the half for a 19-11 deficit.

Fortier called a timeout after the 3, but Easthampton didn't score again in the half and Mathieu led two fast breaks, first scoring herself and then finding Kate Sullivan with 28 seconds left to make it a 19-15 game at halftime.

"It was a total team effort. We hit shots when we needed to hit them," Ciaglo said. "Libby (Kielb) and Kelsey (Yusko), when they were on Whitney, I thought they did a fantastic job. They worked their tails off. Those kids don't get their name in the scoresheet much, but they were a huge reason we won."

The teams played even in the third quarter with Whitney scoring the last five point to take a 30-24 advantage into the fourth, but the Eagles couldn't carry the momentum from there.

"We had no offensive continuity," Fortier said of the fourth quarter. "We couldn't make a foul shot. They stole the ball multiple times and they cashed in on every one.

He added, "If you come after us, we are not mentally prepared for that, and that's my fault. I don't have them ready to play the tough minutes at the end."

Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.