With the calendar turn to February, thoughts of the postseason – and making a push – step to the forefront.
For some teams, there is panic. For others, a quiet confidence built on wins. But things get serious now at a time where everyone has one eye on the floor and the other on the standings/power rankings.
There’s a pivotal Monday night non-league battle coming up for Methuen High in its quest to reach the Division 1 state tourney.
The Rangers, now 6-9 and seeded 39th in the latest MIAA power rankings, travel to Masconomet with a 7 p.m. tip against the 8-6 Chieftains.
Freshman guards Giuliana Decocq and Kendall St. Marie are coming off a giant performance, picking up a key Thursday night win over Lawrence.
Methuen likely needs a 4-1 finish to qualify for the postseason. That would be a huge accomplishment for coach Kevin Barboza’s crew, which is one of the younger rosters in the region.
The Rangers will need to show some resilience, too. They host North Andover on Tuesday and then Malden Catholic on Thursday.
MVC Cup 101
OK, so for a while, trying to understand the newest iteration of the “MVC Cup” felt like an attempt at ciphering physics.
But, thanks to a couple coaches and administrators, I feel like I can handle the explanation for the two-game event – not a tournament – that each of the 11 Merrimack Valley Conference boys and girls hoop teams will undertake beginning next week.
The best way to describe it is two more regular season games attached to the 10-game conference schedule.
The top four MVC1 teams, the next four teams and the bottom three teams get podded off.
Each pod will be chosen not with conference record, but with their MIAA power rankings at the time of the event. And note, the MVC2 teams are not allowed in the top pod.
So, if you were looking for an Andover-Lowell rematch in the Cup – like I was – after their two-point nail-biter on Friday night, it’s not happening. Even though, Lowell has beaten everyone else in the conference, and Andover is perfect in the league, they will not play each other again.
Lowell is in MVC2.
So, with the current MIAA power rankings as they stand, the top pod would be Andover-Chelmsford and Billerica-Central Catholic with the winners colliding after that.
Lowell, again as the current rankings stand, would be in the middle pod, facing Methuen, while Tewksbury faces Dracut – with the winners and losers moving on to face each other.
Haverhill, Lawrence and North Andover would play a three-team round-robin.
Each of the games counts in the league standings, with the 12-game record determining conference champs in MVC1 and MVC2.
Owls stepping up nicely
A program in transition, Timberlane plays a bit of a hybrid schedule in its second New Hampshire Division I season, after stepping up from D-II.
Coach Kevin Fitzgerald’s Owls play a 12-6 split of games between D-I and D-II foes and currently stand in a tie for fifth in the standings at 8-3 with seven to play.
And they’re doing it with the thinnest of numbers – 13 girls total playing on the JV and varsity levels.
Timberlane’s two top guns, Rylee Donahue and Sam Mooney, combine for nearly 40 points a night. And Fitzgerald squeezes all he can out of the other three starters, seniors Lila Fitzgerald and Hailey Hannaford, along with junior Julia Johnson.
The girls all log mega-minutes and have truly embraced their roles, to defend, rebound and support.
“Our kids do a good job of creating shots for (Donahue and Mooney),” said Coach Fitzgerald. “They’ve played the roles to the best of their ability, and they’ve done everything we have asked of them.”
Fitzgerald basically goes with just two subs off the bench with junior Anita Scibelli and senior Ava Paul.
Paul, a lacrosse player and honorable mention all-Division I choice in field hockey, chose to return to basketball for the first time since seventh grade.
Her presence and leadership have been invaluable as the Owls look to close in on a potential home playoff game.
“A couple years ago, Timberlane girls basketball was struggling a little bit, this is a nice turnaround,” said Fitzgerald. “Credit to the girls. We’ve won the games we’re supposed to win. They compete hard every night. We couldn’t ask anything more of them.”
Odds and ends
Sticking with the Division I standings in New Hampshire, the three-team race (Bedford, Concord Christian, Londonderry) for the top has one party crasher in 9-1 Nashua South. The Panthers get to prove if they belong this week with games against Bedford Tuesday and CC on Thursday.
As it stands right now, Pinkerton, Salem, Timberlane and Windham all look poised to make the D-I playoffs. …
Haverhill High, at 7-8, coming off a tough one at North Andover, is in a similar spot to Methuen, needing wins to qualify for the postseason.
The Hillies will have their hands full with Billerica on Tuesday, with three wins in the final five needed to get in.
Triton and Everett – both teams the Hillies beat on the road — each come to Haverhill, meaning the two MVC Cup games could get interesting.