SOUTH HADLEY — All signs are pointing to yet another dominant regular season from the reigning Division 5 state finalists.

The South Hadley girls basketball team put its versatility on full display in front of its home fans during Monday night’s 58-40 dismantling of Pope Francis, as the Tigers (5-1) did a little bit of everything en route to their fourth consecutive win.

The defensive pressure, the ball movement offensively, the fact that four different players buried 3s — South Hadley had it all working against the Cardinals.

“We’re getting a little better every day,” South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc said. “When we’re unselfish, and we’re moving the ball, we can be very good. We know where we want to go, and we’re practicing hard. It’s a lot of fun.”

After a slow start in the first quarter, one in which South Hadley won 12-9, the hosts picked up the pace offensively — thanks in large part to a swarming full-court press that Pope Francis struggled to solve. A quick 7-2 run opened the second frame, and following a Brooke Beadling bucket attempted to stymie some of the Tigers’ momentum, it was all South Hadley the rest of the half.

Freshman Olivia Athas, who poured in a team-high 15 points, scored to ignite a 9-1 spurt that put South Hadley ahead 28-14. During that scoring run, Athas nailed a step back 3 in the corner after putting a spin move on a Pope Francis defender. The fancy move sent the Tigers’ student section into a frenzy.

“She might be the fastest girl I’ve seen with the ball on this court,” Dubuc said. “She’s quick, and she’s athletic, and she was well-coached when she was young, so that helps. I just have to make sure I don’t screw it up.”

South Hadley’s press continued to cause problems for the Cardinals, and a 17-point (33-16) halftime lead stayed the same at 44-27 heading into the fourth.

With the luxury of having 10 players capable of performing at a high level, Dubuc can press from start to finish without his team getting tired. He took advantage of that on Monday, and it wore Pope Francis out.

“We’ve got a bunch of different presses, and we’ve been mixing it up a little bit,” Dubuc said. “We know teams have good starting fives, but we figure we’ve got two starting fives. We’ve got 10 girls that can play. So we’re going to up the tempo, throw different looks and see what happens. That way everybody plays and everybody practices hard. That’s what we’re doing, and we’re going to keep doing it.”

Alongside Athas’ 15 points, Cara Dean and Kate Phillips each dominated down low to put up 14 points apiece, CC Gurek chipped in seven points and Ava Asselin added five.

Like clockwork, South Hadley’s scoring was spread out per usual. The Tigers return to action Tuesday night, as they head to Pittsfield to take on Taconic at 7 p.m.

Smith Voc 53, Ludlow 36 – Makayla Tatro led all scorers with 21 points in the Vikings’ comfortable victory on Monday.

Julianis Suarez scored nine points and Sofia Zina followed with eight for Smith Voc.

Boys basketball

Amherst 64, Chicopee 50 – Sam Woodruff went for 22 points, and the Hurricanes broke through for their first win of the season Monday night thanks to a double-digit victory over the Pacers.

Gael Buford tossed in 14 points for Amherst (1-5), which used a 21-9 edge in the third quarter to create some separation.

Smith Academy 50, Turners Falls 44 – Tied at 36 entering the fourth quarter, the visiting Falcons outscored Turners by a 14-8 margin over the final eight minutes to capture a Hampshire League North victory on Monday in Turners Falls.

Turners stormed out to a 17-7 lead and led 28-23 at halftime before the Falcons recovered and took control.

Cam Graves and Connor Kowalski led the Falcons with 12 points apiece, while Graves dished out 10 assists to go with 10 rebounds in a triple-double. 

Sci-Tech 53, Northampton 45 – Naihmond Peters-Wolfe’s layup with 4:21 remaining got the Blue Devils within 40-38, but that was as close as the hosts would get in a loss to Sci-Tech on Monday night in Northampton.

The Devils trailed 30-17 late in the third quarter but clawed back to make it a game in the fourth. Sci-Tech closed the game on a 13-7 run to pick up the win.

Granby 79, Monson 57 – Nene Fernandez drilled nine 3-pointers en route to a career-high 30 points, and the Rams cruised to an impressive victory on Monday.

Riley Goodhind also put together a huge offensive night with 20 points for the Rams, as the Granby back court was dominant.

Hampshire 57, Franklin Tech 33 – The host Raiders stormed out to a 37-8 halftime lead and handled their business from there en  route to a decisive win on Monday.

Vynce Carr’s 14 points paced Hampshire, and Isiah Isa added nine points in a balanced effort that saw 10 different players score points.

Frontier 49, Athol 43 — The Bears held a 30-25 lead going into the fourth when the Redhawk offense got into a rhythm. 

Max Millette posted nine of this team-high 19 points in the fourth while Alex Ellis and Rowan Modestow both scored six points in the frame, allowing Frontier to pull away with an independent victory at Mallet Gymnasium Monday. 

Modestow finished with 11 points, Ellis scored eight points and Garrett Dredge chipped in five points in the win. 

Greenfield 66, Hopkins 40 – Chace Earle’s 16 points paced the Golden Hawks in a Hampshire League South loss to the Wave at Reed Gymnasium in Hadley on Monday.

Greenfield led 21-8 after one quarter and 39-20 at halftime. 

Hockey

Westfield 8, Easthampton 3 – Parker Christy, Jae'vian Lopez a nd Wyatt Hunter tallied for the Eagles in a loss to Berry Division powerhouse Westfield on Monday afternoon.

 Minti Peterson dished out two assists for Easthampton, which travels to Amherst for its next game on Thursday night.

Weekend results

Girls basketball

South Hadley 59, Chicopee Comp 41 — Kate Phillips netted a team-high 13 points, Ava Asselin  added a dozen of her own and Caitlin Dean tossed in 11 as the Tigers improved to 4-1 with a decisive win over Comp on Friday night.

Cara Dean (seven), CC Gurek (six), Olivia Athas (six) and Tay lor Bullough (four) rounded out South Hadley’s scoring.

Boys ice hockey

Easthampton 7, Taconic 7 — There certainly was no shortage of goal scoring on Saturday, as the Eagles and Thunder combined for 14 goals in a thrilling tie over the weekend.

Jimmy Bresnahan (two), Parker Christy (two), Robert Herman, Grayson Prevey-Catrambone and Anthony Torchia found the back of the net for Easthampton while Torchia (two), Jaevian Lopez (two), Herman, Bresnahan, Christy, Prevey-Catrambone and Cal Gworek all tallied assists.

Amherst 4, McCann Tech 1 — Make it three straight wins for the Hurricanes after starting the season 0-2-1, as four different goal scorers helped them cruise past the Hornets on Saturday night.

Ethan Mooney, Joshua Feldman, Brach Applegate and Sawyer Ferro scored Amherst’s goals and Mooney (two), Ferro, Eric Chen and Benjamin Remensnyder dished out assists in the win.

Nordic ski

The Amherst Regional girls Nordic ski team won the first race (4.6 kilometers) of the Berkshire League season on Saturday afternoon. Led by Addie Mager’s second-place finish of 16 minutes, 45 seconds, the ‘Canes placed four skiers in the top 10.

Ella Workman (fourth, 17:19), Elizabeth Sawicki (fifth, 17:40) and Zoey Candito (seventh, 17:47) had impressive outings and all joined Mager in the top 10. The winner of the girls race was Lauren Miller of Lenox in 16:17. Amherst placed first with 17 points followed by Mohawk Trail (44), Lenox (45), Mount Greylock (48) and Wahconah (87).

The Amherst boys team was led by Calvin Miller with a seventh-place finish in a time of 14:36. The winner of the boys race was Fritz Sanders from Wahconah (13:10). Mount Greylock took first in the boys race with 20 points, followed by Wahconah (25), Mohawk Trail (55), Lenox (68) and Amherst (79).

Mohawk Trail, which co-ops with Hampshire Regional, was paced on the boys side by Augustus Niswonger, who crossed in sixth place (14:20), and Adam Muller in eighth (14:42). The girls team received a third-place showing from Charlotte Niswonger (17:11), Corrine Somes (eighth, 18:01) and Ada Corner (ninth, 18:14).