Gabby Billetz and the Hoosac Valley girls look like the No. 1 seed in Class D, while Ahna Balcom's Taconic Thunder are holding steady at No. 4 in Class C.
MARC J. WRZESINSKI — EAGLE CORRESPONDENT
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association released its Tuesday power rankings, and there will be three more sets released which will then lead to the MIAA basketball and hockey tournaments.
But for teams in Western Massachusetts, the rankings released on Tuesday are the penultimate rankings before the brackets for the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournaments.
The cutoff date for the four-class Western Mass. tournament is Thursday, Feb. 16, and the brackets for the eight-team basketball tournaments and four-team boys hockey tournaments will officially be released on Friday after the MIAA's release comes out late in the morning.
In the space of a weekend, nothing has changed in Western Mass. girls basketball. Pittsfield is still the No. 1 seed in Class B, while Hoosac Valley and Lenox are 1-2 in Class D.
Pittsfield would play No. 8 Southwick in the first round of the Class B tournament, and the winner would get the winner of No. 4 Pope Francis and No. 5 Frontier.
Wahconah has a pretty solid lock on the No. 2 seed and would face seventh-seeded Mahar in the quarterfinals, while No. 3 Easthampton would play sixth-seed South Hadley.
Over in Class C, eighth-seeded Drury would have a tough opening-round match against top-seed Springfield ICS. Taconic is the highest seed in Class C from Berkshire County, with the Thunder clocking at No. 4. Taconic would host No. 5 Renaissance and then play the SICS-Drury game.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Palmer would face No. 7 Greenfield, while third-seeded Franklin Tech would play No. 6 St. Mary's.
Hoosac has been the Class D top seed all season, and remains there today. The Hurricanes would face No. 8 Ware in the quarterfinals. If they advance, the 'Canes would face the winner of No. 4 Mount Everett and No. 5 Monson.
Lenox, who beat Monument Mountain on Monday, is the second seed in Class D, and would open against No. 7 Hopkins Academy. The other game on that side of the bracket involves third-seeded Pioneer and No. 6 Turners Falls.
