High school basketball notebook: Frontier’s Max Millette, South Hadley’s Jack Loughrey turn in area’s top performances this year & more

South Hadley’s Jack Loughrey (12) attempts a floater during the first quarter of the Tigers’ 73-62 win over Frontier on Monday night in South Hadley. Loughrey finished the game with 34 points, his third straight game of 30 points or more.

South Hadley’s Jack Loughrey (12) attempts a floater during the first quarter of the Tigers’ 73-62 win over Frontier on Monday night in South Hadley. Loughrey finished the game with 34 points, his third straight game of 30 points or more. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

Frontier’s Max Millette (10) drives past a South Hadley defender during the first half of the Redhawks’ 73-62 loss to the Tigers on Monday night in South Hadley. Millette finished the game with 39 points, and followed that up with 39 more points in Frontier’s overtime win over Greenfield on Tuesday.

Frontier’s Max Millette (10) drives past a South Hadley defender during the first half of the Redhawks’ 73-62 loss to the Tigers on Monday night in South Hadley. Millette finished the game with 39 points, and followed that up with 39 more points in Frontier’s overtime win over Greenfield on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

By GARRETT COTE

Staff Writer

Published: 01-29-2025 4:35 PM

Installment No. 4 of the weekly high school basketball notebook is upon us, and to be honest I’m excited for this one – the last edition in the month of January. We’re that much closer to postseason basketball, so we will take a look at where each team (boys and girls) in Hampshire County currently stands in the Western Mass. and state tournament rankings in their respective classes/divisions.

On top of that, I’ll walk you through what it was like to witness two of the best performances of the season in the same game on Monday night, as Frontier’s Max Millette and South Hadley’s Jack Loughrey were unstoppable in their matchup earlier this week. And Millette backed it up with another dazzling outing the following day. Elsewhere, the Smith Academy girls basketball team is on pace to win its most games in a season since 2018 – find out what the Falcons have to accomplish to do so.

If you missed last week’s notebook, you can read it by clicking this link. And if you have any tips for items that you think should be featured in next week’s, please email me at gcote@gazettenet.com.

Below is the fourth high school basketball notebook of the 2024-25 season:

Stellar showings from Millette, Loughrey captivate crowd

It’s pretty rare that a high school player goes for 30 points at any point in their careers, so the fact that Frontier junior Max Millette and South Hadley senior Jack Loughrey did it in the same game is astonishing. The two traded blows for 32 minutes, and both played nearly the entire game as they so often do for their teams. The Tigers won 73-62 on Monday night, with Loughrey’s 34 points leading South Hadley and Millette’s game-high 39 points keeping Frontier in the game until the very end.

I walked into the back hallway outside of South Hadley’s gym following the game, where I found Loughrey sitting in a chair with both of his ankles in an ice bucket (he left Monday’s game briefly with an ankle injury and has been dealing with pain in both ankles all season).

“It keeps happening,” Loughrey said, referring to his turned ankle. “But I’ll be fine.”

His next sentence?

“That Millette kid is really good.”

The two superstars guarded each other for most of the night, which made the matchup even more compelling. It was good, old-fashioned competitive nature between the two best players on winning teams. They both took pride in digging in on defense and trying to stop the other from continuing to light up the scoreboard.

Sure, they had their moments where they would get a stop, but more often than not, an offensive possession would end up with Millette or Loughrey lacing a shot.

“He’s the best player I’ve played against all year,” Millette said of Loughrey. “I want to play my best game against the best opponents. Before the game and during the game I was thinking about it. Props to him. I wanted to guard him. He’s just a really good player.”

And if anyone, for whatever reason, thought Millette’s career-high 39 points against South Hadley on Monday – where he scored 29 of Frontier’s 34 points in the second half – was a fluke, he backed it up the very next night. Frontier hosted one of Franklin County’s best (Greenfield) on Tuesday, and Millette matched his 39 points with another 39 in a thrilling overtime win over the Green Wave.

A whopping 78 points in 24 hours for the Redhawks junior.

As for Loughrey? He’s dropped 30 in three straight games and looks to make it four on Thursday night against Hoosac Valley.

Falcons girls surging, eye most wins since 2018

The Smith Academy girls basketball team is 10-5 as of Wednesday, and the Falcons have three games remaining on their schedule. Two of those contests are against teams they beat by 15 points or more earlier this season, and the other comes against a team they lost to by 20 back on Jan. 7.

Now, Smith Academy still has to show up and play its best, but if they were to notch a pair of wins in their final three games, that would put the Falcons at 12-6 with at least three more games (two WMass tournament, one state tournament) guaranteed. Back in 2018-19, Smith Academy won 11 games, and the year before that it won 14. Both of those numbers are certainly within reach if the Falcons finish strong.

First-year head coach Tomie Lafond Zerneri has a trio of seniors leading the way, starting with leading scorer Alexa Jagodzinski, who scored a season-high 24 points against Duggan Academy – one of the Falcons’ three remaining opponents left on their schedule – a little over two weeks ago.

It’s been a great season for Smith Academy so far, but it’s also far from over.

WMass/state tournament seedings

Below is a list (in alphabetical order) of where each team is ranked in both the Western Mass. and state tournament. Note: the top eight teams make the Western Mass. tournament regardless of record, and top 32 teams make the state tournament regardless of record. Ten wins automatically qualifies a team for the state tournament. 

Boys teams

Amherst (3-10): No. 9, WMass Class A; No. 41, MIAA Division 2

Belchertown (8-6): No. 6, WMass Class B; No. 48, MIAA Division 3

Easthampton (4-11): No. 13, WMass Class B; No. 50, MIAA Division 4

Frontier (9-5): No. 8, WMass Class B; No. 27, MIAA Division 4

Gateway (0-11): No. 15, WMass Class D; No. 83, MIAA Division 5

Granby (10-3): No. 1, WMass Class C; No. 6, MIAA Division 5

Hampshire (8-4): No. 11, WMass Class B; No. 39, MIAA Division 4

Holyoke (10-2): No. 3, WMass Class A; No. 9, MIAA Division 2

Hopkins (2-12): No. 9, WMass Class D; No. 49, MIAA Division 5

Northampton (4-8): No. 10, WMass Class A; No. 43, MIAA Division 2

PVCICS (6-6): No. 12, WMass Class D; No. 64, MIAA Division 5

Smith Academy (8-5): No. 5, WMass Class D; No. 24, MIAA Division 5

South Hadley (11-3): No. 3, WMass Class B; No. 10, MIAA Division 4

Smith Vocational (10-4): No. 12, WMass Class B; No. 49, MIAA Division 4

Girls teams

Amherst (0-13): No. 12, WMass Class A; No. 65, MIAA Division 2

Belchertown (9-4): No. 4, WMass Class B; No. 23, MIAA Division 3

Easthampton (9-5): No. 9, WMass Class B; No. 20, MIAA Division 4

Frontier (12-1): No. 5, WMass Class B; No. 8, MIAA Division 4

Gateway (2-10): No. 12, WMass Class D; No. 63, MIAA Division 5

Granby (5-8): No. 4, WMass Class D; No. 19, MIAA Division 5

Hampshire (9-4): No. 8, WMass Class B; No. 13, MIAA Division 4

Holyoke (1-11): No. 10, WMass Class A; No. 52, MIAA Division 2

Hopkins (3-9): No. 7, WMass Class D; No. 35, MIAA Division 5

Northampton (10-3): No. 2, WMass Class A; No. 10, MIAA Division 2

PVCICS (1-11): No. 13, WMass Class D; No. 66, MIAA Division 5

Smith Academy (10-5): No. 5, WMass Class D; No. 24, MIAA Division 5

South Hadley (12-1): No. 2, WMass Class B; No. 3, MIAA Division 4

Smith Vocational (8-4): No. 6, WMass Class C; No. 40, MIAA Division 4