Cara Dean powers South Hadley girls basketball to narrow victory over Frontier, into WMass Class B final

FRONTIER ― The South Hadley girls basketball team is no stranger to deep runs in the Western Mass. tournament.

Entering Friday night, the third-seeded Tigers had reached the sectional finals two years in a row, and three times in the past four years.

With that type of experience, South Hadley has been known for stepping up in the biggest moments to reach this stage at a consistent level.

It was no different in Friday night’s Class B semifinal game against No. 2 Frontier. The Tigers were in enemy territory and facing a Redhawks team that got the best of them during a regular season contest over two weeks ago.

Tied at 44-44 headed into the fourth quarter, South Hadley needed a player to step up, and it ended up being junior standout, Cara Dean.

Dean scored 11 of her 22 total points in the final quarter. With a pair of triples and two layups, Dean’s plays on both the offensive and defensive ends were key in maintaining the edge over Frontier.

In the end, Dean’s fight for a layup in the paint and an added free throw on a later play secured South Hadley’s 62-60 victory against the Redhawks at Goodnow Gymnasium.

“It played out exactly like we thought it would,” South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc said. “We’re pretty evenly matched, they beat us at our place and we wrote on the board, ‘we owe them one.’ We’ve been playing really good for a month now. We played a lot better than we did there, we took better care of the ball, we defended better.”

Shifty plays and effective ball movement shined to create scoring opportunities for each offensive unit while the rebounding battle prevailed as one of the main impacts on the night.

During the second quarter, the Tigers capitalized off second chance points which kept the game close after they originally trailed at the end of the first.

However, Frontier’s offense was finding momentum with Addie Harrington and Skyler Steele. With four seconds left, Harrington nailed a triple to award the Redhawks a five-point lead at halftime.

In the third, Kate Phillips faked out a Frontier defender and dribbled toward the hoop for two to tie the game at 31-31 for the Tigers.

However, Frontier responded with a 11-0 run, as South Hadley’s offense stalled out.

Open lanes for Harrington allowed for quick layups, while Harper Modestow’s long pass found Steele, who beat a defender to the hoop, as Frontier took control.

Phillips first broke the Tigers scoring drought and with plenty of time left, South Hadley began to close the deficit. Olivia Athas followed up with a three-point play off a fouled jump shot and the made free throw, while Taylor Bullough chalked up a triple.

After back to back trips to the line for both teams, Phillips made a two-point shot off a wrist flick in the paint that tied the game as the final seconds expired. Phillips scored eight points in the third quarter, with 14 total on the night.

While multiple players stepped up for the Tigers to erase the mistakes from the Redhawks’ run, it set up Dean to take over in the fourth.

“I found that the lane was open to the hoop so I would take it and most of the time they would foul,” Dean said. “It was a good way to end off the game with a couple foul shots and even just a couple of threes that I hit, so it felt good.”

South Hadley displayed an aggressive attack on offense that Frontier struggled to counter. The Tigers also beat the Redhawks to rebounds on multiple occasions, further extending their possessions which gifted them a 7-2 run.

Yet, Frontier was not going down without a fight and Harrington tossed up a much-needed three-pointer, and followed it up with another triple to swing momentum on the next possession.

In response, Dean nailed a spin-around three-point shot of her own.

“She’s so tough,” Dubuc spoke of Dean. “She makes shots, she gets to the rack, she hits bombs with people in her face.

“We say when we play other teams, they might have the best player, but usually we have the next (best) three. (Dean, Phillips and Athas) are bona fide high school basketball players. They’re the real deal.”

With shots falling back and forth, Steele grabbed the rebound and tossed back a layup to give Frontier a one-point lead with a minute left.

As South Hadley had minimal chances left, it put the ball in one of its best players hands. Dean’s clutch layup and free throws were the final points of the night, and cemented the Tigers’ two-point lead.

“It feels really good,” Dean said. “We all came in with the thought, ‘we can beat (Frontier),’ even though we lost to them the first time, but we knew what we had to beat them this time and it felt so good.”

Along with Dean’s 22-point performance, Phillips tallied 14, Athas scored 12 and Bullough totaled 11 points for South Hadley’s.

On the Redhawks’ side, Steele led her team with 22 points while Harrington scored 20 and Modestow netted 12.

South Hadley now advances to the Class B finals, and will face a familiar foe in No. 1 Pittsfield at a date, time and location yet to be announced.

This game will be the third straight finals rematch between the two teams. Last season, the Generals prevailed as champs and the year before, the Tigers took home the title. Now, they’re up for Round 3.

“We all know how Pittsfield plays and we know the stress and the pressure in a finals game,” Dean said. “So, I think we’re going to try and push through that and make it (feel) all happiness, and change it in our heads and make sure we think of the positive.”

As for Frontier, its time in the WMass tournament comes to an end, but its season is certainly not over. At 17-3, the Redhawks will turn their attention to the upcoming MIAA Div. IV state tournament.