Drury Girls Draw South Hadley in WMass. Tourney
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Fans of the Drury girls' basketball team will get one last chance to see the Blue Devils play on their home court this season after the MIAA announced on Saturday that John Franzoni's club will be the No. 6 seed in upcoming Division 2 Western Massachusetts tournament.Drury will meet up with South Hadley, which drew the No. 11 seed after posting a 12-8 record this season. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Drury's Bucky Bullett Gymnasium on Tuesday night. The winner of that game advances to play third-seeded Wahconah (14-6) in Dalton later in the week.
Franzoni said he saw the Tigers play in a game against Cathedral a few weeks ago and thinks they will provide his team with a strong challenge in the opening-round contest.
"They have a freshman point guard named Kara Callahan who is tough," he said. "The game we saw against Cathedral she scored 31 points. They like to play an up-tempo game, so we're going to have to make sure we play both good transition and half-court defense. In the tournament, you have to do the little things well to advance like playing tough, rebounding and taking advantage of your scoring opportunities. If we do that, I think we'll have a good chance to win."
The Blue Devils (13-7) most likely earned a No. 6 seed over seventh-seeded Monument Mountain (12-7) based on their final games of the regular season last week. Drury pulled out a one-point win over Wahconah on the road, while the Spartans lost their final game to Lee. Monument now will host 10th-seeded Hoosac Valley (13-7) in the opening round, with the winner moving on to play at second-seeded Hampshire.
The most obvious setback of the Division 2 girls' field is that all four Berkshire County teams are positioned on one side of the bracket, taking away any possibility of two county teams meeting up in the final. On the other side of the bracket, schools like No. 1 Frontier (19-1), No. 4 Belchertown (14-6) and No. 5 Athol (15-5) are all teams to keep an eye on.
In the Div. 1 field, Pittsfield (13-7) earned a No. 5 seed and will play at No. 4 Longmeadow (13-7) in the opening round. Three Berkshire County teams are involved in the Division 3 bracket, including top-seeded Lee (19-1), which went undefeated in the North Division this year. The Wildcats open with a game against No. 16 Pathfinder (11-9), while No. 5 Lenox (12-8) meets up with McCann Tech in another first-round matchup.
Games to watch in the boys' field include a quarterfinal date between No. 3 Hoosac Valley (15-5) and No. 6 Taconic (13-7). Both teams earned first-round byes, but their matchup between the only two county teams in the Div. 2 bracket means only one team from the Berkshires will make it to the Curry Hicks Cage this year. Lenox (17-3) drew the No. 1 seed in the Div. 3 bracket, while No. 4 St. Joe's (14-6), No. 8 Lee (11-9) and No. 13 McCann Tech (11-9) are also in the mix. The Crusaders and Hornets start off the action with a first-round game in Pittsfield on Monday night.
Ticket prizes for all MIAA tournament games are $7 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.