The first thing folks like to do when judging a team’s talent is look at its record. Most coaches agree that that’s the worst scale to use.

Such is the case with the Northampton boys basketball team this season.

Although the Blue Devils sit at 6-7 overall, their resume is one of the more impressive ones in western Massachusetts given the caliber of teams they have beaten in a stacked Valley League.

From Jan. 5 to 17, Northampton won three of its four games, taking down Springfield Central, Longmeadow and Holyoke. The win was the Blue Devils’ first against Central since 2014, and the Lancers and Purple Knights are two proven programs in recent history as well.

Since then, the Blue Devils have dropped two contests in a row – one to Putnam and the other in a rematch against Central, two of the best teams in all of western Massachusetts. The league Northampton plays in is a slug-fest every night, and no wins come easy by any means.

Northampton junior Naihmond Peters-Wolfe is scoring at a high rate and leads the team in points more than midway through the season. He’s scored double-digit points in every game except the first one, and had 29 points in the aforementioned win over Longmeadow as well as 28 in a loss to Amherst at the Pioneer Valley Tip-Off Classic at the Mullins Center back in early December.

Senior Silas Coles is steady, a perfect complement to Peters-Wolfe on the wing with multiple 20-point games himself. Sophomore Jackson Lockett and seniors Luke McGrath, JJ Moore and Marty Maslowski play their roles to perfection and do the little things that every team needs to help put wins on the board.

The Blue Devils host Sci-Tech – a team they lost to back on Jan. 8 – on Friday at 7:30 p.m. with revenge and getting back to the .500 mark on their mind.

Make it seven straight for South Hadley

The Tigers girls basketball team defeated Hampshire on Thursday night for the second time this year to improve their winning streak to seven in a row. South Hadley is now 10-3 and, as of the MIAA’s most recent release of its postseason power rankings, currently ranked No. 5 in Division 4 – the highest of any western Massachusetts girls team in the division.

South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc said after the win over Hoosac Valley on Monday that his team is just scratching the surface of how good it can really be.

If the Tigers haven’t reached their full potential yet, they could have championship aspirations by the end of February. South Hadley has scored 60 or more points in four of its last six games, which can be credited to its balanced scoring attack from top to bottom.

Junior Maddie Soderbaum, freshman Cara Dean, and the backcourt duo of junior CC Gurek and senior Drew Alley have the perfect combination of skill and experience. Freshmen Taylor Bullough and Kate Phillips are strong contributors off the bench, and juniors Caitlin Dean and Ava Asselin are also consistent scoring options. The Tigers really do it by committee.

No player had scored more than 17 points in a single game this year entering Thursday. Asselin hit that mark in a win over Monson, and Alley did it against Hoosac.

The scariest part about South Hadley’s successful season is that the Tigers have only one senior in Alley. While Alley is one of the more talented players on the team, it’s still exciting to think about the main core of this group being back together next winter – a year older, stronger, and more experienced.

But the thought of the future isn’t anywhere on their minds. This group wants to win now.

Purple Knights end skid with huge win

After starting 6-2 this season, the Holyoke boys basketball team had lost four of its last five games heading into Tuesday night’s heavyweight battle with Putnam (7-4).

Thanks to a big second half where the Purple Knights (8-6) outscored the Beavers by 18, Holyoke pulled out a 76-64 win to snap a sluggish streak that spanned the past two weeks.

Holyoke was down 39-33 at halftime, and the final 16 minutes featured not only an offensive explosion from the Purple Knights, but also a defensive masterclass against a very talented Putnam offense.

Jamil Rodriguez led the way with a team-high 19 points, Davian Diaz put up 18, Shawn Rivera added 16, Jordan King-Perilli netted 14 and Aden Cabrera chipped in 9. Holyoke goes by the “we over me” mantra, and any of its five players on the court can hurt the defense at any time if not defended properly.

The Purple Knights’ win over Putnam helped avenge their 73-67 loss to the Beavers on Jan. 5.

Holyoke is looking to build off of Tuesday’s victory and get back to playing its brand of basketball as it did when it won four of five back in December. The Purple Knights are off until next Tuesday at Sci-Tech, a team they handled 73-47 in their first meeting back on Jan. 11.

Vikings primed forpostseason push

Before losing on Monday to St. Mary’s by three points on the road, the Smith Vocational girls basketball team had won six consecutive games.

The Vikings lost three in a row to start the year, but immediately turned that around in Tri-County League South play. During the three-game stretch in early December, Smith Voc surrendered an average of 51.6 points per game to their opponents. That defense has completely flipped, and the Vikings are now one of the most difficult teams to score on in their league – that’s why results have changed.

Over its last seven games, Smith Voc’s opponents are scoring just 28.7 points per game on average. There has been a clear concerted effort on that end of the floor from head coach Kristen Marciniec, and the Vikings’ defensive intensity is evident when looking at the results.

Makayla Tatro leads Smith Voc offensively, with a pair of 27-point outings in back-to-back games earlier this month standing out. She also poured in a game-high 20 in Thursday’s win over Commerce. Tatro can score inside, at the free-throw line, and even step back to take an occasional 3-pointer.

Sophomore Sofia Zina is a capable second option who scored a team-high 14 points in the loss to St. Mary’s on Monday, and both senior Jayanna Daniels and freshman Julianis Suarez are key pieces to the team as well.

Up next for the Vikings (7-4) is trip to PV Christian on Tuesday.