The South Hadley girls basketball team will see a familiar foe in the MIAA Division 4 state championship on Sunday at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.

It’ll be the same squad that eliminated the Tigers in the same game, in the same building, last season: Cathedral High School of Boston.

The top-ranked Panthers (18-5) plowed through the competition on their side of the bracket these playoffs, winning their first four postseason games by an average of 35 points. Cathedral are the two-time reigning state champions and will be looking for the seventh state crown in the last decade when it squares off with No. 3 South Hadley (22-2) on Sunday.

“They're good. We know we can play with them, and we're going to play our best,” Tigers head coach Paul Dubuc said. “If we start like we did last year, we'll finish a lot better, because we're smarter. It's going to be tough, we know that. We just have to play our game and come out strong, anything can happen."

South Hadley sent Cathedral into an early hole in the championship last season, starting the game ahead, 16-6, after eight minutes. The Panthers pounced shortly thereafter, scoring 12 straight points in the second, before ultimately running away with it, winning 69-49.

What should help the Tigers this time around is they bring back virtually the same roster from the runner-up team a season ago. Drew Alley was essentially the only impact player from last season’s group that graduated, leaving Dubuc with a bunch of players who now have some experience playing for the ultimate prize.

“We lost Drew, which she gave us an inner toughness. But these girls are all a year older, they're all a year smarter, and they're all a year stronger,” Dubuc said. “They've played with each other for a long time, so they understand each other and that stuff matters."

One of its most important returners in Kate Phillips has been money all playoffs for South Hadley, especially so during this past Wednesday’s state semifinal against No. 2 Millis. Phillips hit an and-one with 28 seconds left in the contest to push the Tigers past the Mohawks at Worcester State University, 45-42.

“I love playing the sport, and it feels really amazing to be able to go this far and with this team,” Phillips said. “I'm a part of a really great team and we're having a lot of fun with it, too."

Phillips led South Hadley in points in the championship game last season (13 points) as a freshman. Cara Dean and Ava Asselin each had nine points against the Panthers in 2024, while Caitlin Dean and Cianna Gurek combined for 10 points, marking the Tigers’ experienced depth it brought back for another shot at the state title.

“Last year, we would've wilted under the same conditions [against Millis],” Dubuc said. “When they made their run, that would've been it. We didn't do that this year.”

Cathedral appears to be boast a few talented upperclassmen, highlighted by Hijjah Allen-Paisley and Keyona Raines. The duo totaled 34 points in the Panthers’ 71-31 victory over No. 4 Bourne in its state semifinal bout earlier this week. 

South Hadley has run into Cathedral during the Division 4 playoffs the past three years and each time, the Panthers have advanced. This time though, the Tigers feel like they have what it takes to get past their cross-state rivals and claim their first state championship in program history.

"We've played a lot of different types of games, and we've been here before,” Phillips said. “We know what it's like and we're ready to go through and finish it this time."

Tipoff in Lowell is scheduled for 2 p.m.