WESTHAMPTON — When two teams are separated by exactly one seed line in tournament play, that number suggests a tight and evenly-matched game, but that’s not how the first nine minutes played out Wednesday night at Zalot Gym.

Hampshire Regional bolted to a 22-4 lead one minute into the second quarter and that provided the Raiders with plenty of cushion for the final 23 minutes, as the hosts went on to bounce Lynn Technical, 45-30, in a girls MIAA Division 4 state preliminary-round basketball game.

Eighth-grader Shayne Moynahan led the Raiders (7-14) with 12 points, one of nine Hampshire players to crack the scoring column. Liz Colon-Garcia added eight points and Addie Miklasiewicz had six. Senior Emma Czarniecki, down with a knee injury all season but cleared to play in time for Wednesday’s game, came off the bench late and banged two long jumpers, including a 3-pointer, within the final minute.

The No. 32 seed in Division 4, Hampshire advanced to a Round of 32 game at top-seeded Cathedral (15-3) Friday at 5 p.m. in Boston.

Lynn Tech, seeded 33rd, finished its season at 14-8. Engelyz Bingham was the game’s high scorer with 15 points and Divine Egbuta pitched in with nine.

“I think we got a little too comfortable at one point, and that’s what we talked about at halftime,” said first-year Hampshire coach Sydney Cloutier. “They realized, we have this win, we did the work, so let’s just hold them off.”

Both teams committed 21 first-half turnovers, but Hampshire was far more efficient to begin the game, holding the Tigers to just one field goal in the first 9:36 of play. From a 4-3 lead, the Raiders ran off 12 straight points, including two baskets each from Colon-Garcia and Moynahan. Kat Simmons scored on the fast break to lift Hampshire into an 18-4 advantage at the end of one.

Ali Jenkins and Sam Moran then tallied for the hosts at the top of the second quarter to make it 22-4 before Lynn Tech answered with seven straight points. Moynahan hit two free throws and Miklasiewicz hit from the right corner for a 26-11 lead, then the Tigers rallied back with the last seven points of the half. Bingham’s layup off a steal with 31 seconds left pull the Tigers to within 26-18 at the break.

As it turned out, Lynn Tech would never get closer than eight points from there. The third quarter played out evenly, 10-10, as Hampshire maintained a 36-28 lead. That’s when the Raider defense took over, holding the Tigers without a field goal and to a mere two foul shots over the final quarter.

Hampshire has now put together a late 6-2 stretch since finding itself mired at 1-12 in late January.

“We had a really tough first stretch, but I wasn’t worried. We kept telling them, stay positive, keep working,” said Cloutier. “I could kind of see this coming. They’re just a hard-working group of girls. We definitely have a tough game ahead of us, but I believe in my team, and they do have toughness within them. We’ll go out there and give it our all. We’re not going to leave anything out there.”

Div. 3 prelim

No. 32 Ipswich 57, No. 33 Belchertown 45 — Chloe LaRoche poured in a team-high 25 points, but the 33rd-seeded Orioles were unable to snag the road victory in the preliminary round of the Division 3 tourney on Wednesday in Ipswich.

The Tigers will play at No. 1 St. Mary's Lynn, the defending state champs, in the Round of 32 on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Belchertown finished its season 10-11 overall.

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