Girls Hoop Playoff Picture

NOTE: Apparently, fate just didn't want me to post a Top 25 last week or the Week Guide this week as things just kept getting in the way both at home and in the office. I don't expect that to happen again for the rest of the season. ... To make amends, I offer the first Playoff Picture of the season, with breakdowns of who is in, who is out and just what the bubble teams are looking at. ... There are some teams listed as "Out" that may be mathematically still alive via a second-place finish. Unless the teams appear likely to be in that position, I kept them in the "Out" category for now. ... It appears there are some teams that have a habit of not reporting their score to the Replublican when they lose at home, so that's become a bit of a challenge here. Also, there is certainly the potential for mistakes, so if you see anything please email me at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com. ... See you Thursday night for the updated Top 25.

DIVISION 1

Clinched
Amherst, East Longmeadow, Holyoke, Pittsfield, West Springfield

On the bubble:
Agawam (6-9) - They'd have to beat either Amherst or Longmeadow in order to get in. The good news is both games are in Agawam, but that's still a tough order.
Central (9-7) - No easy ones left, but they only need one from West Side, Ludlow, Minnechaug and Northampton. They beat Ludlow by four, Minnechaug by three and Northampton by two the last time around.
Longmeadow (8-7) - The Lancers are a virtual lock to get in after going 4-1 the first time through the league and with one more swing through all five teams remaining.
Ludlow (7-9) - Lions are a good team that could suffer from being a member of the power conference. Three wins isn't completely out of the question, but the squad is 3-1 against Central, Minnechaug, Northampton and East Longmeadow already this year.
Northampton (9-6) - The Blue Devils have gone 1-3 in their last four games and have officially put themselves into a tough position. After losses to Central and Minnechaug, they now face East Longmeadow, Holyoke and West Side and could potentially take a five-game losing streak into the last two games, which are at Ludlow and at Central.

Out
Chicopee, Chicopee Comp, Minnechaug, Sci-Tech, Westfield

DIVISION 2

Clinched
Athol, Drury, Easthampton, Hoosac Valley, Mahar, Palmer

On the bubble:
Belchertown (9-7) - Three of the four Orioles games are tough ones, but they should get in. Belchertown is 8-2 in its last 10 games.
Frontier (9-7) - Tough win against Mohawk tonight, but a win is a win at this point and the Red Hawks will get No. 10 at some point.
Hampshire (8-8) - The team having the strangest season of anyone in WMass has a good shot at second in the league, but must take care of at least one of its final three league games to have a chance to do so.
Mount Greylock (5-10) - Mounties have five games left and need to either win out or find a way to finish second in the Berkshire South.
South Hadley (8-7) - Tigers should have at least two more wins in them. They certainly don't want to be 9-10 heading into the game against Granby on Feb. 21.
Southwick (9-6) - The Rams will get in. Rematch at Holyoke Catholic on Valentine's Day should be interesting.
Wahconah (7-9) - It is crazy that a team as good as the Warriors is still deeply on the bubble to get into the tournament. It really shows the depth of Berkshire County. In its last three games, Wahconah has lost at Lenox by two, won at Lee by two and then lost at Drury by two. Now it has Pittsfield at home on Friday, then are at Monument, at Coaches vs. Cancer (for a third game against either Lee, Pittsfield or Drury) and then at Taconic. The Warriors, who could absolutely get to the Cage if they qualify, must win three of those games to get in. Crazy.

Out
Cathedral, Commerce, Mohawk, Monument, Taconic

DIVISION 3

Clinched
Gateway Regional, Granby, Hopkins Academy, Lee, Lenox, New Leadership, Sabis, Ware

On the bubble:
Franklin Tech (8-5) - A lot of Tri-County bubble teams will be playing one another in the next few weeks.
Holyoke Catholic (8-9) - Gaels are likely to get two more wins in their last three games, and could still win the Bi-County West once again.
McCann (4-9) - The Hornets have a lot of games left and are also still very much in the hunt for a top two spot in the Bi-County West.
Monson (7-9) - Kind of like Wahconah in D-2, Monson is definitely good enough to be considered a tournament team, but their tough league could keep them out. Need to go 3-1 against Sabis, South Hadley, Smith Academy and Ware. Tough, tough, tough.
Mount Everett (9-7) - The Eagles will get four chances at win No. 10, but it could come down to Coaches vs. Cancer on Feb. 18.
Pathfinder (8-7) - Remaining schedule looks like they'll get to 10.
St. Joseph's (9-5) - I'm a little confused on this one. I only have the Crusaders with 17 total games (at Hoosac on Feb. 10; Coaches vs. Cancer Feb. 18, vs. Greylock Feb. 21), which would mean they are already clinched. Can anyone confirm their remaining schedule?
Smith Academy (8-8) - They should get win No. 9 on Friday. Then they need one more either at Monson (2/15), at Mahar (2/17) or vs. Frontier (2/21).
Westfield Voke (7-7) - From what I can find, they need to go 2-2 in final four games and it's not going to be easy with Franklin Tech, Gateway and New Leadership among the remaining schedule. They did beat NLCS last time at home by six, however.

Out
Dean, Greenfield, Pioneer Regional, Pioneer Christian, Putnam, St. Mary, Smith Voke, Turners Falls

Girls Hoop Week Guide

Here are this week's highlighted games. See you Friday with the updated rankings. As always, you can reach me at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.

Monday, Jan. 30
Monson at South Hadley - Tigers have a huge week with three games and they'd love to get out of it with three wins. They've lost three in a row (all on the road) since beating Sabis on Jan. 12. I'm sure they'll be glad to play three home games this week.

Tuesday, Jan. 31
Amherst at Longmeadow - A rematch of last year's D-1 title game and the first of two between these two squads for first place in the Suburban.
Athol at Mahar - We've really got to start looking at whether the Senators can go 20-0 in the regular season. There are a few challenges left, but completing the sweep of their rival Red Raiders would be another big step in that direction.
Central at Northampton - An old rivalry that could be rekindled here. Interested to see how these teams match up.
East Longmeadow at Ludlow - Spartans hope to get back on track after last week's brutal schedule. Lions, meanwhile are going to have to beat a good team or two in order to get into the tournament. Should be interesting.
Holyoke at West Springfield - Two standout guards square off. I imagine this one will be a ton of fun to watch.
Smith Academy at Easthampton - Rematch of battle in the post between recent 1,000 point scoring senior Alyssa Klepacki and Eagles' standout center Elizabeth Whitney. Easthampton won the first time. Also the top two scorers in GazetteLand.
Hoosac Valley at Pittsfield - Hurricanes third brutal game in a row isn't a great way to end a two-game losing streak. Pittsfield, by the way, is 10-2 since opening the season with a 20-point loss at Amherst. The Generals have since lost to Leominster in Fitchburg by five and at Lee by four. They are the real deal.
Drury at Lenox - This was a three-point win for the Blue Devils at home on Dec. 20. Both teams are playing well. Should be a good one.
Holyoke Catholic at Cathedral - Interesting test for the Gaels, who are looking for their first win over a D-2 team this year.

Wednesday, Feb. 1
Taconic at South Hadley - Huge game for the Tigers, who need to start piling up some wins soon or it could get hairy down the stretch. Taconic doesn't have a great record, but the Berkshire-Valley matchups have heavily favorite the Berkshires so far and the Braves do have wins over Belchertown and Wahconah on their resume.

Friday, Feb. 3
Athol at Turners Falls - Alexa Whitney should get more attention. Very nice player. Could be my All-D2 center at the end of the year.
Easthampton at Frontier Regional - Big week for both teams. The Red Hawks' health could determine whether this will be a competitive one or not. Eagles won by seven in their place last time.
Mahar at Hopkins Academy - First place teams in Franklin North and South square off. Golden Hawks hope for a better showing here than their 17-point loss in Orange last time.
Palmer at Monson - Panthers have had a few near misses, but have suddenly won seven straight and seem to be rounding into tourney form. No shocker there. Monson's remaining schedule is insane.
Wahconah at Lee - Warriors looked great in South Deerfield last week, but this is their fourth straight road game (they have a fifth in a row next week) and Lee isn't exactly an easy place to play when you aren't tired of riding the bus.
McCann Tech at South Hadley - Tigers third game of a key week.

Girls Hoop Top 25/Divisional Rankings

NOTES: These rankings reflect games through Friday night, while the Gazette scoring is only through Thursday. The Week Guide will be posted Sunday night. ... As always, drop me a line at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com with comments.

Power Rankings (last week-if different)
1. Holyoke
2. Lee
3. Amherst (4)
4. West Springfield (5)
5. East Longmeadow (3)
6. Pittsfield
7. Northampton
8. Longmeadow
9. Mahar
10. Central
11. Palmer
12. Drury
13. Ware (15)
14. Lenox (13)
15. Sabis (14)
16. Ludlow (18)
17. Granby
18. Athol (22)
19. Easthampton (16)
20. Belchertown (19)
21. Hopkins Academy (20)
22. Hoosac Valley (23)
23. Wahconah (NR)
24. Frontier (21)
25. South Hadley (24)

GazetteLand Leading Scorers (Through Thursday)
1. Alyssa Klepacki, Smith Academy, 20.4
2. Elizabeth Whitney, Easthampton, 16.3
3. Brianna Leonard, Amherst, 15.6
4. Samantha Barnes, Northampton, 14.92
5. Chelsea Merritt, Gateway, 14.89
6. Olivia Mathieu, Hopkins, 14.5
7. Anna Walther, Northampton, 14.3
8. Sarah Kober, Hampshire, 14.0
9. Kate Sullivan, Hopkins, 13.9
10. Cassidy Snyder, Smith Academy, 11.56
11. Kristen Ferola, Amherst, 11.55
12. Kara Callahan, South Hadley, 11.5
13. Meghan Sullivan, Granby, 11.1
14. Tea Spellacy, South Hadley, 10.3
15. Marissa Kopacz, Belchertown, 10.2
16. Forbasaw Nkamebo, 10.1
T17. Victoria Stewart, Amherst, 10.0
T17. Maya Kerstetter, Northampton, 10.0
19. Haley Domina, Easthampton, 9.4
20. Amanda Calvo, Frontier, 9.0

Division 1 (last week, record)
1. Holyoke (1, 13-0)
2. Amherst (3, 10-2)
3. West Springfield (4, 11-2)
4. East Longmeadow (2, 8-4)
5. Pittsfield (5, 10-3)
6. Northampton (6, 9-4)
7. Longmeadow (7, 7-6)
8. Central (8, 8-5)
9. Ludlow (9, 7-6)
10. Agawam (10, 4-8)

Division 2 (last week, record)
1. Mahar (1, 13-0)
2. Palmer (2, 11-3)
3. Drury (3, 9-2)
4. Athol (7, 9-5)
5. Easthampton (4, 11-3)
6. Belchertown (5, 7-7)
7. Hoosac Valley (8, 9-4)
8. Wahconah (NR, 6-8)
9. Frontier Regional (6, 7-6)
10. South Hadley (9, 5-6)

Division 3 (last week, record)
1. Lee (1, 14-0)
2. Ware (4, 13-1)
3. Lenox (2, 10-3)
4. Sabis (3, 10-5)
5. Granby (5, 9-3)
6. Hopkins Academy (6, 10-4)
7. Monson (7, 8-6)
8. Smith Academy (8, 7-6)
9. Mount Everett (9, 7-6)
10. St. Joseph's (10, 7-3)

Boys Hoop Top 10s/Power Poll

Rankings are through Thursday’s games. I did not vote this week in the Top 10 on Masslive. Email mmoran@gazettenet.com with comments.
Some thoughts: Division 1 is slowly shaking itself out. There have been some upsets but nothing so great that it breaks the poll. Division 2 is awfully hard to figure out. There is a lot of parity within the Bi-County and Hampshire leagues, and the D2 Berkshire schools are in a down year. Division 3 basically has two regional halves and we won’t get a clear view until the postseason.

Boys basketball
Power Poll (Last week)
1. Central (1)
2. Commerce (2)
3. Holyoke (4)
4. Cathedral (3)
5. West Springfield (6)
6. Putnam (unranked)
7. Chicopee (5)
8. Northampton (9)
9. St. Joseph’s (7)
10. Mahar (10)

Divisional Top 10s
Division 1
1. Central (1)
2. Commerce (2)
3. Holyoke (4)
4. Cathedral (3)
5. West Springfield (6)
6. Putnam (10)
7. Chicopee (5)
8. Northampton (8)
9. Pittsfield (9)
10. Minnechaug (7)

Division 2
1. Mahar (1)
2. Easthampton (2)
3. Greenfield (3)
4. Belchertown (5)
5. Hampshire (6)
6. Palmer (4)
7. Sabis (7)
8. Drury (8)
9. South Hadley (9)
10. Monument (10)

Division 3
1. St. Joseph (1)
2. New Leadership (2)
3. Mount Greylock (3)
4. Lee (4)
5. Lenox (5)
6. Renaissance (6)
7. Granby (7)
8. Frontier Regional (8)
9. Smith Academy (9)
10. Turners (10)

GazetteLand Power Poll (Last week)
1. Northampton (1)
2. Amherst (2)
3. Granby (3)
4. Frontier Regional (4)
5. Smith Academy (5)
6. Easthampton (6)
7. Belchertown (7)
8. Hampshire (8)
9. South Hadley (9)
10. Holyoke Catholic (10)
11. Gateway Regional (11)
12. Smith Vocational (12)
13. Hopkins Academy (13)

GazetteLand Leading Scorers (through 1/26)
Nate Powers, Holyoke Catholic, 22.6
Casey White, Easthampton, 22.2
Allan Rivera, Smith Vocational, 21.3
Mat Sulda, Smith Academy, 20.6
Keith Cotnoir, Hampshire, 19.5
Jarrod Neumann, Northampton, 18.7
Zach Parsons, Belchertown, 18.6
Corey Baker, Granby, 16.9
Keith Natale, Smith Academy, 16.6
Sam Sharpe, Smith Vocational, 15.4
Norris Cuevas-Nova, Amherst, 15.1
Jordan Castillo, Smith Vocational, 13.6
Josh Whitaker, Amherst, 13.3
Chris Starcun, Easthampton, 12.9
Luis Agrait, South Hadley, 12.3
Shane Andrews, Hampshire, 12.3
Derek McMahon, Smith Academy, 11.8
Nate Perret, Frontier, 11.0
Austin Cook, Gateway, 10.8
Paul Decker, Frontier, 10.6
Chris Ladd, Belchertown, 10.5
Aaron Gaj, Granby, 10.0

Boys & Girls Hoop Midseason Reports

NOTE: Records, etc., are through Tuesday’s games.

Boys basketball

In
Belchertown (10-3)
The Orioles have won two straight since their three-game slide. League title is not out of the equation. Team qualified Monday.
Frontier (10-2)
The Red Hawks have increased their offensive production to compliment their defense and the results have shown.
Smith Academy (10-3)
The Falcons streaked into the postseason Monday. They have the second-best offense (68.2 points per game) in Division 3.

Closing in
Easthampton (10-3)
The Eagles’ win against Nauset to open the season doesn’t not count toward their tournament record. Might be tough catching one-loss Mahar for the league title, but the team is streaking toward a high seed.
Granby (9-4)
The Rams have proven to be a deep and balanced team. Big back-to-back road wins over Hampshire and Belchertown gave the team confidence.
Smith Vocational (7-2)
The Vikings have won four straight since a two-game slip and are in a good position with nine games remaining.

Work to do
Amherst (6-5)
The Hurricanes are in a good position to qualify. They recently had 10 days off and come out of the break going 1-1. Six of remaining nine games are at home.
Northampton (6-6)
The Blue Devils have won four straight since their tough start. Five of remaining eight games are on the road so qualifying will be tough.
Gateway (3-9)
A five-game losing streak didn’t help the Gators. The team needs to bounce back with seven games remaining.
Hampshire Regional (5-7)
The inconsistent Raiders need to get hot down the stretch. The Bi-County has proven to be a challenge. Second place isn’t out of the question.
Holyoke Catholic (2-9)
The Gaels lost five games by single digits. Qualifying will be a difficult task.
Hopkins Academy (0-13)
The Golden Hawks are building for the future.
South Hadley (4-6)
The best chance for the Tigers to qualify is via the 70 percent rule. The team needs one more win out of its five remaining non-Division 1 opponents to reach that goal.

***

Girls basketball
In
Gateway Regional (9-1)
The Gators have continued their dominance of the Tri-County and appear poised to earn their third straight league title.

Closing in
Amherst Regional (9-2)
The Hurricanes have shown themselves to be a true contender to win a second straight western Mass. Division 1 title in what should be a terrific field.
Easthampton (10-3)
The Eagles are in the hunt for the Franklin South title and are one win shy of clinching a postseason berth for the first time since 2008. Easthampton’s season-opening win against Nauset doesn’t count toward the playoffs.
Frontier Regional (7-4)
The Red Hawks have won six of seven and could get themselves into the race with Easthampton and Hopkins for first place in the Franklin South with continued improvement.
Granby (8-3)
The Rams will certainly be battle tested against a terrific Bi-County Central that should see all five teams get into the tournament.
Hopkins Academy (9-4)
The Golden Hawks hold onto a slim lead in the Franklin South and the stretch run should be plenty entertaining as that league sorts itself out.
Northampton (8-4)
The Blue Devils were dealt a blow with Maya Kerstetter’s foot injury potentially knocking her out until the tournament, but have still won four of six since she went down.

Work to do
Belchertown (7-6)
The Orioles’ 1-5 start have made things interesting, but they have turned things around and are playing well enough that they should get into the tournament. Belchertown has reached three straight WMass D-2 semifinals.
Hampshire Regional (5-7)
The Raiders started out 0-5, then won four of their next five before a surprising loss at then-winless Monument Mountain on Saturday. Now Hampshire is lacking wiggle room down the stretch to either earn 10 wins or get to second place in the Bi-County East.
Holyoke Catholic (5-7)
The Gaels have owned the Bi-County West in recent years and are right in the middle of the battle for first again.
Smith Academy (5-6)
The Falcons are right on the playoff bubble and will have to earn some tough victories to get to No. 10 this season.
Smith Vocational (1-9)
The Vikings continue to work on building up their program.
South Hadley (5-5)
The Tigers need five wins to clinch a postseason berth and have shown the ability to beat virtually anyone, but the schedule is extremely difficult. There are very few easy wins remaining on their schedule.