Another week of the high school basketball season is nearly over, which leaves just one more until the Western Massachusetts tournaments begin. This is edition No. 5 of the Gazette’s weekly high school basketball notebook – the penultimate prior to postseason play. The MIAA released its latest power rankings for boys and girls basketball on Tuesday morning, so we’ll take another look at those as Hampshire County teams continue to jockey for a playoff spot or better seeding.

Elsewhere, we’re going to take a dive into the top three girls basketball teams in our coverage area – Frontier, Northampton and South Hadley. I’ll check in with them as they gear up for what they hope are deep runs in their tournaments. I also have included a fun list of my top five Gazette area gymnasiums/atmospheres of the 2024-25 season, so stick around for that.

If you have any tips for items that you think should be featured in next week’s, please don’t hesitate to email me (gcote@gazettenet.com).

Below is the fifth installment of the Gazette’s high school basketball notebook for the 2024-25 season:

Redhawks, Blue Devils, Tigers girls all eyeing more hardware

The Frontier girls basketball team sits at 15-1 with two regular season games remaining on its schedule. Of those 15 wins, the Redhawks haven’t won a game by less than 16 points, and their only loss was a 55-52 nail-biter to undefeated Lenox – which Frontier plays next Monday in one of the more anticipated girls basketball matchups of the season across western Mass.

If Frontier wins out, it’ll clinch at the very least a share of the Franklin County League North title for the third consecutive season under head coach Dave Machon.

Northampton, in my opinion, has been slighted in the latest MIAA power rankings. The Blue Devils have won nine of their last 10 games (the only loss coming to Worcester South High School by one point), and they’re playing the best basketball they have all season long – which you want to do at this point in the year. Yet still, Northampton, a team that went to the Final Four last season, is ranked No. 15 in Division 2 after checking in at No. 10 last week, and the Blue Devils have won two games since then.

But if you ask head coach Perry Messer, he’d rather be the underdog, and I’m sure he’s going to use that as motivation to have his team hungry come tournament time.

South Hadley’s 12-game winning streak was snapped in a 56-53 overtime loss to Hoosac Valley on Monday, a team the Tigers beat by 25 back on Jan. 13. Caitlin Dean buried a clutch 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, and CC Gurek converted a layup through contact before making the ensuing free throw to tie the game up in the final seconds, but it wasn’t enough against the Hurricanes.

I haven’t talked to South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc since the loss, but knowing him, he is certainly going to use the defeat as a wake-up call for his very talented Tigers roster that made the Division 4 championship last winter.

That said, I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked if these three teams pick up multiple wins in their respective Western Mass. and state tournaments.

Updated MIAA power rankings

Below is a list (in alphabetical order) of where each team is ranked in the state tournament. Note: the top 32 teams in each division will make the state tournament regardless of its record, and 10 wins will automatically qualify a team for the state tournament. Records listed are as of Tuesday afternoon, per the MIAA website.

Boys teams

Amherst (4-11): No. 42, MIAA Division 2

Belchertown (8-7): No. 39, MIAA Division 3

Easthampton (4-11): No. 47, MIAA Division 4

Frontier (10-5): No. 24, MIAA Division 4

Gateway (0-12): No. 83, MIAA Division 5

Granby (11-3): No. 2, MIAA Division 5

Hampshire (9-5): No. 36, MIAA Division 4

Holyoke (12-2): No. 8, MIAA Division 2

Hopkins (2-13): No. 50, MIAA Division 5

Northampton (4-10): No. 43, MIAA Division 2

PVCICS (6-7): No. 62, MIAA Division 5

Smith Academy (9-6): No. 20, MIAA Division 5

South Hadley (12-3): No. 7, MIAA Division 4

Smith Vocational (11-4): No. 48, MIAA Division 4

Girls teams

Amherst (0-15): No. 65, MIAA Division 2

Belchertown (9-7): No. 33, MIAA Division 3

Easthampton (10-6): No. 24, MIAA Division 4

Frontier (14-1): No. 12, MIAA Division 4

Gateway (2-11): No. 69, MIAA Division 5

Granby (6-8): No. 22, MIAA Division 5

Hampshire (9-6): No. 18, MIAA Division 4

Holyoke (2-13): No. 55, MIAA Division 2

Hopkins (3-12): No. 41, MIAA Division 5

Northampton (12-3): No. 15, MIAA Division 2

PVCICS (1-13): No. 71, MIAA Division 5

Smith Academy (12-5): No. 26, MIAA Division 5

South Hadley (13-2): No. 3, MIAA Division 4

Smith Vocational (9-4): No. 47, MIAA Division 4

Top 5 area gymnasiums to watch a basketball game in

Now, I think it’s important to preface this list with this: I’ve been to every gym over the course of my two seasons covering basketball in the area. I will say, the atmosphere usually does depend on the stakes of the game being played. The bigger the implications, the bigger the crowd.

Let’s start with a couple honorable mentions and work our way to No. 1.

Honorable mentions: Amherst, Belchertown

Both of these gyms have the potential to be special with their set up/layout, but I just haven’t quite seen enough from the fans to crack the top five.

No. 5: Smith Academy

There isn’t always an overflowing number of fans that make their way into Sherry Webb Gymnasium to watch the Falcons play, but there are plenty enough to be heard. And what’s made my experiences in Hatfield entertaining have been the passion in which those at Smith Academy cheer with. The students and parents combine to make a pretty loud environment, and just to reiterate, those fans certainly care about their Falcons.

No. 4: Hopkins Academy

I can already see people getting upset with this list through the first two schools chosen, and I get it, because they are two of the smallest population-wise in Hampshire County. And while neither Golden Hawks team (boys or girls) has had the success they’ve been accustomed to in the past, I’ve witnessed Reed Gymnasium at its peak. Back in my playing days (when the Hopkins boys won three Western Mass. titles in a row, and the girls made the state final in 2019), I’ve been a part of games where you couldn’t sit anywhere in there without smelling the breath of the people next to you. That place can be deafening, and based on personal experience, it sits at No. 4 on this list.

No. 3: Northampton

It’s one of – if not – the biggest gym(s) in the Valley, and when the Blue Devils girls maneuvered their way through the state tournament a season ago, their fans were phenomenal in giving them a true home-court advantage. And when Northampton senior Ava Azzaro scored 1,000 points last season, the students went crazy for her. The potential is there for the Blue Devils because of school and gym size, and they do a solid job of maximizing it.

No. 2: South Hadley

Small, old-school, and about as loud as it gets. The gym at South Hadley High School gives me Cameron Indoor (Duke) vibes, just the Hampshire County version, of course. It felt cliché mentioning how the crowd gave the Tigers’ girls basketball team unlimited amounts of energy during their run to a Western Mass. title and state final last season, but it literally couldn’t be ignored. The place was bananas, and it only got louder the deeper South Hadley went into the tournament. I had a really tough time not putting this at No. 1.

No. 1: Holyoke

If it weren’t for this year’s overtime thrilled against Springfield Central, then South Hadley’s gym probably would’ve gotten the nod for No. 1. But when the Purple Knights defeated the Golden Eagles 77-74 back on Jan. 6, it actually felt like the roof was going to blow off John “Jinx” O’Connor Gymnasium. Not only is the gym big, and the court is relatively new, the stands are always packed. And the way fans’ screams bounce off the walls in there makes it seem even louder. Back in the 2022 Division 2 MIAA Round of 16, I covered Holyoke’s game against Dracut when I was an intern at MassLive. Jael Cabrera banked in a layup at the buzzer, and I couldn’t hear myself think.

Holyoke edges out South Hadley – two drastically different environments that are special in their own ways – for the best basketball atmosphere in the Gazette coverage area.