Kolodkin's Corner: Western Mass. can hoop and Berkshire ballers lit up the scoreboard
3/20/2026by Jesse Kolodkin-The Berkshire Eagle

 

Wicks shooting

Hoosac Valley's Adan Wicks gets off a jumper at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on State Championship Sunday.

MIKE WALSH — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
 

And then, there were none.

The basketball season came to a close on Sunday and with it, the winter sports season. What a ride for Berkshire County teams. The Hoosac Valley boys basketball team won their first state championship in program history, 91-76 over Holbrook. The Pittsfield and Drury girls each finished as state finalists in their respective divisions. 

I've written about how Western Mass. as a whole has struggled in the fall season, West Springfield boys soccer was the only 413 team to win a state championship in the fall. That was still better than 2024, when the 413 took home no gold hardware. 

Qwanell drive fouled

Hoosac Valley's Qwanell Bradley drives through some physical contact by Holbrook defender Nick Dessalines.

MIKE WALSH — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

But the winter is evidently a season where Western Mass. — and Berkshire County — shine. The Berkshires have won four straight state titles on the hardwood. The Taconic boys started the run in 2022-23, the Hoosac girls kept it going in 2023-24 and 2024-25 and the Hoosac boys did their part this year. Not to mention, the Berkshires put two teams in the state finals in 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and put three teams in the finals this year. 

South Hadley beat Frontier in an all-Western Mass. Division IV girls state title game while Springfield Central lost to Wachusett in the D-I girls state title game. The Pope Francis boys hockey team took home the D-I state championship at TD Garden on the same Sunday the Hoosac boys captured their title in Lowell.

Not to mention the Mount Greylock boys and girls Nordic ski teams kept up their dominance with team state championships for the second straight year on the boys side and third straight on the girls. 

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Struggle for ball

Drury's Jorge Bond tries to keep the ball away from Hoosac Valley's Adan Wicks and Terrell Johnson.

MIKE WALSH — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

Boys Basketball 2025-26

# Player Team PPG
1 Jorge Bond Drury 27.3
2 Adan Wicks Hoosac 22.5
3 Joey Abderhalden Lee 18.8
T4 Bri'Awn Thompson Pittsfield 16.4
T4 Quincy King Taconic 16.4
T4 Darius Taliaferro Everett 16.4
T7 Cooper Calvert Wahconah 16
T7 Qwanell Bradley Hoosac 16
9 Quincy Abellie Pittsfield 14.9
10 Zach Howland McCann 14.3
11 Finn Wheeler Monument 13.9
12 Jack DuCharme Wahconah 13
13 Finn Mason Monument 12.9
14 Brady Carpenter Everett 12.8
T15 Jake Wasuk Wahconah 12.5
T15 Dom Calautti Monument 12.5
17 Shane Faucher Drury 12.1
18 Logan Fitzgibbons Greylock 11.9
T19 Duke Jaehnig Lenox 11.6
T19 Mason Lucy Lee 11.6
T21 Brady Auger Greylock 10.3
T21 Connor Hinkell Drury 10.3
T23 Sam McLaughlin Wahconah 10
T23 Jaxson Pilot McCann 10

The scoring leaderboard this year began with Drury's Jorge Bond and the jaw-dropping point totals the junior put up game-after-game, not least of which a 44-point outburst in the Round of 16, leading the county by a wide margin with 27.3 per contest. But the leaderboard was left scorched by the white-hot run from Hoosac's Adan Wicks and the 22.5 points per game he put up.

To win a championship you need your best players to step up and he did just that, averaging over 27 points per game in the postseason on the way to dropping 38 in an upset win over Drury and 29 in the state final. 

So too did his teammate Qwanell Bradley, who averaged almost four more points per game in the postseason, finishing the season tied seventh in the county with 16 a game. Both Bradley (1,085) and Wicks (1,279) crossed the 1,000 point barrier this year, and they were not alone. Bond (1,464) was the first scorer to do so and Lee's Joey Abderhalden was the last. Needing 24 points to reach 1,000 for his career with one game left, the senior scored 25 to cross into quadruple digits. He was third in the county with 18.8 points per game and eighth with 41 made 3s.

Tied for fourth, Pittsfield's Bri'Awn Thompson, Taconic's Quincy King and Mount Everett's Darius Taliaferro all averaged 16.4 points per game. Thompson graduates, but Taliaferro is a junior and King is a sophomore. Taliaferro, who also hit 43 3-pointers, and Brady Carpenter (12.8 per game) are both back next year and after helping Everett reach its first ever Western Mass. final, should be looking for even bigger seasons. In his first year as a starter, King led Taconic to an upset win over Wahconah in the Western Mass. Class B Quarterfinals. 

Speaking of, Wahconah recovered from that blow nicely, winning two home games in the D-IV state tournament to reach the quarterfinals. Cooper Calvert averaged 16 points a game this season and was third in the county with 59 3-pointers. Wicks' 102 made treys is an unassailable mark but Bond was second with 67 and Calvert's teammate, Jack DuCharme, was fourth with 57. Taconic's Charley Driscoll and Monument Mountain's Finn Mason were tied for fifth with 52. 

PHS junior Quincy Abellie (14.9) and McCann Tech senior Zach Howland (14.3) round out the top 10.

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Caprese Conyers drive

Pittsfield's Caprese Conyers drives to the basket. Conyers had 15 points to lead the Generals against Bishop Fenwick on Sunday.

MIKE WALSH — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

Girls Basketball 2025-26

# Player Team PPG
1 Madison McCarthy Wahconah 16.7
2 Caprese Conyers Pittsfield 16.5
3 Giana Carlino Lee 16.2
4 Tanley Drake Greylock 16
5 Reagan Shea Hoosac 13.3
6 Harolyn Castillo Pittsfield 13.2
7 Genevieve Lagess Hoosac 13.1
8 Grace Julieano Lenox 11.8
9 Mika Diller Lee 10.4
       

One of the most impressive aspects of Drury's run to the state title game was that it never had a double-digit scorer. Delaney Hayden, who played through illness in the semifinal and final, was the team's leading scorer with 199 points. She was second on the girls' side with 45 made 3-balls and the junior figures to be a key factor in Drury's attempt at a state title next season. Drury should bring back some outside firepower, with freshman Ella Bond fourth on the girls side with 35 made 3s.  

The leading scorer in the county also led the girls in made 3s and was second overall in that department, Wahconah's Madison McCarthy. Another 1,000 point scorer (1,191), the senior drilled 75 from downtown and averaged 16.7 points per game. Right on McCarthy's trail was Pittsfield's Caprese Conyers. 

The sophomore sensation scored 16.5 points per game and led the team in scoring all the way to the state title game. A playoff riser, she put up 17.2 points per game in the postseason. In just two varsity seasons she has already scored 676 points. PHS will bid a sad farewell to Harolyn Castillo, Kyana Summers, Madison Stetz and Bre'Jai Ellerbee, four seniors who brought plenty of shine to the Dome on East Street. Castillo played with 1,000 point scorer Jamie Duquette, and surpassed her this year in career points (1,158) as well. She averaged 13.2 points per game.

Lee's Giana Carlino and Mount Greylock's Tanley Drake will be more hoopers to keep an eye out for next season. Carlino averaged 16.2 points per game as the freshman engine for Lee's league-winning offense. Teammate Mika Diller added 10.4 points a game and the duo are sure to be primed next season.

Ashlyn Hayden layup

Drury's Ashlyn Hayden goes up for a layup.

JESSE KOLODKIN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

Greylock's Tanley Drake nearly pulled off an upset of Lee, dropping 21 against the Wildcats while hitting 29 3-pointers on the year and averaging 16 points per game. Hoosac's Reagan Shea and Genevieve Lagess will be back and both could be in the top 5 scoring-wise. Shea hit 38 3-pointers, third on the girls side, and averaged 13.3 points per game while Lagess averaged 13.1 points per game and could be fighting for the title of "best big in the Berkshires" next season. 

Lenox's Grace Julieano was a steady hand, and scorer, for a Millionaire team trying to find its way after graduation and injuries sapped it of its former strength. She averaged 11.8 points per game, hit 27 3-pointers and scored 22 points in the D-V Round of 16 to knock off Lee, in Lee. 

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The break is short this year. By next Friday the spring season will begin with a rematch of last year's Western Mass. Class C Boys Lacrosse Championship taking place at BCC between McCann and Hoosac. That's a day after Taconic will have traveled out to Westfield for a baseball game between two Western Mass. heavyweights. 

By April 1 baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis, track and field and more will all be in full swing. We'll see you then.