East versus West

Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir out for 2009-10 season

2009-10-22T12:18:00.004-04:00

New Leadership's Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir who is a freshman at the University of Memphis on a full basketball scholarship is out for the 2009-10 season due to a torn ACL. Here's the video of the story from abc40.

Agawam pounces early with defeat over Northampton

2009-10-17T10:18:00.002-04:00

Agawam scored three quick touchdowns in the first quarter ignited by a 65-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Kevin Fruwirth to junior running back Tesfaye Bihonegne as the Brownies rolled to a 40-6 win over its AA conference foe.

Northampton continues to struggle now 0-6 on the season and 0-4 in the conference.

Check out the full game recap in today's Republican.

Chicopee backs Eddie Green and Raheem Kelly-Reid pace 27-8 football win over Putnam

2009-10-16T13:26:00.003-04:00

Senior running backs Eddie Green and Raheem Kelly-Reid ran for a combined 312 yards and scored two touchdowns as Chicopee paced itself past Putnam 27-8 in a Suburban League match-up at Szot Park Friday night.

Chicopee improved to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in the league.

Click here to read the full recap.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 4

2009-10-06T20:00:00.002-04:00

This week's topic features defense.

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held recaps key defensive plays that led to wins.

Highlighted plays

Casey Blachard's blocked punt for Pioneer Valley Regional who came from behind to beat Ware, 20-16.

Quarterback D'Shane Smith intercepted an intended touchdown pass as Central held on to defeat Westfield 34-26.

Jacory Gonzalez had an interception at the Holyoke 1 yard line with 52 seconds to play to seal the deal for the Purple Knights as they upset Agawam 21-14.

I covered the Central/Westfield game. You can check out the game recap here.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 3

2009-09-29T16:19:00.002-04:00

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held highlights the Commerce Red Raiders this week as they picked up its first win since the 2007 season.

After an 0-2 start, Commerce won 9-7 over city rival Putnam.

Other topics include streaks and Longmeadow is nowhere to be found this time.

The honors go to Frontier Regional (3-0) who holds the longest active winning streak in Western Massachusetts with nine dating back to last season.

And if you missed it, here's my recap of the Agawam vs. Taconic game from last Friday.

The Brownies were 45-14 winners in a game that took two and a half hours to play.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 2

2009-09-21T16:06:00.002-04:00

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held has the second installment of high school football happenings across the state in Monday Afternoon Quarterback.

Some tidbits

In Western Mass. Longmeadow got trounced by St. John's of Shrewsbury 42-12 in its home opener.

In Eastern Mass. No. 1 Everett fell to Dracut 48-14.

Along with Longmeadow, Westfield, Agawam, Central, and Minnechaug all lost on the same weekend for the first time in decades.

Tyler Hood and Athol top Pathfinder

2009-09-19T20:27:00.003-04:00

PALMER - Senior wide receiver Tyler Hood scored three touchdowns and intercepted two passes as Athol powered by Pathfinder Regional Vocational 39-7 in independent football action Friday night at Saint Joseph's Field.

Hood (five receptions, 63 yards) caught two touchdown passes from senior quarterback Eric LaFountain (102 yards passing, three TDs) and ran for a score.

To continue reading click here.

Western Mass. high school football coverage

2009-09-18T13:16:00.003-04:00

I've honestly completely forgot about this blog, but since I'll be covering high school football again this season for The Springfield Republican, I'll be sure to tack on some notes from my respected games.

All of my recaps will be posted on here as well.

Every Monday, school's editor Russ Held will recap the week in "Monday Afternoon Quarterback," in The Varsity Voice high school blog. The same article will be printed in Tuesday's paper.

Looking forward to another good season.

If you're looking for Eastern Mass. football coverage, check out Boston.com's high school sports blog.

The Boston Globe Scholar-Athlete Awards

2009-06-14T17:35:00.003-04:00

Today The Boston Globe held its Scholar-Athlete Awards at its headquarters in Dorchester to honor and feature 14 Boston Globe/Richard Phelps Scholar Athletes all of which received $3,000 college scholarships.

Other honorees included the Globe Male and Female Athletes-of-the-Year for the MIAA and NEPSAC schools as well as the Globe/Will McDonough Male and Female Athletes-of-the-Year for public schools.

You can check out school's editor, Bob Holmes' article for a list of all of the winners.

L-S wins first state crown with 3-0 sweep over Prep

2009-06-13T16:56:00.006-04:00

Lincoln-Sudbury had to wait a year, but it was worth it.

After falling in last year's boy's volleyball state title game to St. John's Prep, the Warriors got a nice filling helping of revenge at Ashland High School as they swept the Eagles 3-0 for its first ever state crown.

Click here to read the Globe's Sapna Pathak's game story and check out the Boston Herald's Bruce Lerch's coverage (we have to be a little bit fair).

Congrats to L-S, lets see if they can defend its crown next year.

Westwood rallies from 6-1 deficit to defend state crown

2009-06-13T16:45:00.006-04:00

Check out this video footage from the Globe's Chris Forsberg as Eastern Mass champion Westwood rallied from a 6-1 deficit to beat Western Mass. champion Longmeadow 11-10 for its second straight girl's lacrosse state title.

You can also read the game stories by Maggie Cassidy of The Boston Globe and Fran Sypek of The Springfield Republican.

Congrats to Westwood for defending its state title.

Westwood and Longmeadow set for rematch in lax

2009-06-11T15:15:00.005-04:00

It's all set.

Eastern Massachusetts champion Westwood will face Western Mass. champion Longmeadow in a rematch of last year's Division I girl's lacrosse state final in which the Wolverines won 10-7 at Wayland High School.

Longmeadow (21-1) is searching for its first state title since 2004 when it beat Westwood (22-1) in the final. The Wolverines captured titles over the Lancers in 2003, 2005, and 2008 and are looking to make it four out of five.

Westwood beat Framingham, 15-6 in a rematch of last year's Eastern Mass. final to earn the returning trip while Longmeadow also trounced Central Mass. champion Westborough 15-7.

Duxbury domination; boys' lax wins 6th straight state title

2009-06-11T14:54:00.009-04:00

St. John's Prep ended Duxbury's 99-game unbeaten streak in Massachusetts earlier this season, but it was still the Green Dragons who got the last laugh.

Duxbury (19-3) won its sixth-straight Division I boys' lacrosse state title on Wednesday at Harvard Stadium with a 13-12 defeat over the Eagles.

Matt Heatherington scored what proved to go the game winner with five minutes left in the fourth quarter off a transition. Prep's Colin Blackwell's shot was blocked by goalie Mickey Zaverucha who cleared it and set up the Green Dragons 13th goal.

St. John's Prep ended its season with a 19-3 record as well.

Is there no stopping Duxbury? How long can they possibly make this go? Seven-in-a-row? Eight-in-a-row? How about 10?

Predictions?

Abdul-Qaadir first Mass. player to hit 3,000 points

2009-02-18T11:37:00.002-05:00

I knew it was going to eventually happen, but I wanted to cool off from all of the coverage that I've thrown around on the blog.

New Leadership's Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir is the first high school basketball player in Massachusetts history to reach the 3,000 point milestone as she netted 38 points against Pioneer Valley Christian School (PVCS; I noticed that the newspaper had the wrong Pioneer Valley in there, it is indeed PVCS) last night in a 52-34 win.

To read more, check today's article in The Republican.

Ludlow's Elisha Homich hits 1,000

2009-02-11T19:53:00.004-05:00

On Monday, Feb. 9 Elisha Homich became the first ever girl's basketball player from Ludlow to reach 1,000 points as the senior poured in 20 points in a 53-43 win over Amherst.

The Lions improved to 13-3 on the season.

The Republican's Russ Held has the full story.

CM now No. 1 in Globe Top 20

2009-02-11T19:42:00.003-05:00

Well after a week of complaining, we got more to complain about this week.

Somehow Catholic Memorial (7-3-4) has had a 360 turnaround and are at the top spot of the Boston Globe's Top 20 poll in boy's ice hockey.

Springfield Cathedral (13-2-2) has now dropped to No. 6.

I betcha that people were complaining, "Why is a west team in the top 3???"

Anyways here are the girl's hockey, boy's basketball, and girl's basketball Top 2os for this week.

Globe Top 20s; CM above Cathedral!?

2009-02-04T15:10:00.004-05:00

Here's the list of The Boston Globe's Top 20s for this week.

Notice that Springfield Cathedral is now ranked at No. 3 in the boy's hockey poll. Can I smell a Super 8 berth?

But wait a second here...why is Catholic Memorial ranked above them? Didn't Cathedral beat CM? So why are they No. 2? Interesting guys.

And in girl's hockey, St. Mary's of Lynn is still undefeated and haven't lost a game since the 2006-2007 season.

About East versus West

2009-01-30T16:00:00.001-05:00

This is for all of you Mass. high school sports fanatics out there. Eastern Mass. vs. Western Mass., who is the bestern Mass.? When it comes to certain sports, it seems like certain parts of the state always have the upper hand.

Like for example...Duxbury dominates in boys and recently girl's lacrosse...Longmeadow can say the same as well as in football...St. Mary's of Lynn boasts a ridiculous girl's hockey program...Catholic Memorial is known for its rivarly vs. B.C. High also on the ice...Westfield and Cathedral represent the rinks in the west.

Gardner is the swimming capital of the state...St. John's Prep never seems to die off in boy's volleyball...while Ludlow holds the most hardware in the sport of soccer...

These are only briefs of so much more. Yes they are the best in their neck of the woods, but who owns the state in sports overall?

This is where the discussion will go down to the best of my ability and hopefully we can have some fun on here.

I had the opportunity to cover both sides of the state of Mass. from my first gig at a town newspaper, to my co-op/part-time coverage at the Boston Globe, and now back in my neck of the woods in Hampden County.

Here topics and analysis of high school sports news, teams, coaches, players, and all other happening will be posted.

This may get a little bit interesting...

Alyssa Orszulak eclipses 1,000 for Palmer

2009-01-30T11:05:00.003-05:00

Last night, Alyssa Orszulak joined an elite class reaching the 1,000 point milestone for Palmer High School in a 56-37 win over South Hadley.

The junior hit a 3-pointer and four free throws to make her the seventh player in Palmer history.

Orszulak needed only seven, but poured in 22 points as Palmer stood perfect on the season.

Pat Donnelly commits to Brown University

2009-01-29T14:06:00.005-05:00

From The Republican's Russ Held, former Longmeadow High School quarterback, Pat Donnelly has commited to attend and play football at Division 1 Ivy League champion Brown University.

Donnelly is currently studying as a post graduate at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H.

During football season the 6 foot 3 inch quarterback led Exeter to a 6-3 record coming off a tremendous senior year at Longmeadow where the Lancers won its third straight Division 1 Super Bowl title.

Top 10 Media Polls; Western Mass. hoops podcast

2009-01-29T13:54:00.004-05:00

Here's the Top 10 Media Poll in Western Mass. released on Masslive.com yesterday in boy's and girl's hoops.

I didn't even realize that they did this, I only knew about the Fab Fives.

If you love podcasts check out The Varsity Voice's with Kyle Belanger (Western Mass. Sports Journal WMSJ), Ben Swasey (Masslive), Ben Larsen (Masslive), Russ Held (The Republican), and Erik Gallant (Masslive) as they reminise about the happenings from this week in girl's and boy's hoops.

3,000 next for Abdul-Qaadir?

2009-01-27T22:03:00.004-05:00

I love Garry Brown.

In his "Hitting to All Fields" column today in The Springfield Republican he wrote...

And now, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir can relax and go for 3,000.

Priceless.

Another high school note...

Cathedral 4, Catholic Memorial 3. Purple Panthers, on the prowl.

That's right, lets go West!

Globe Top 20s

2009-01-27T21:56:00.002-05:00

Check out The Boston Globe's Top 20s for this week.

Boy's basketball
Girl's basketball

Boy's hockey
Girl's hockey

Springfield Cathedral has earned the respect from the East being ranked No. 6 in the boy's hockey Top 20 after defeating B.C. High, Austin Prep, and recently Catholic Memorial.

Abdul-Qaadir breaks Lobo's 18-year record

2009-01-26T22:53:00.006-05:00

It's finally official.

New Leadership's Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir's name can finally be printed in the record books as the 5 foot 3 inch senior broke Southwick native Rebecca Lobo's 18-year state scoring record with a 28 point showing, plenty to make her the number one scorer in the state of Massachusetts.

Lobo had a total of 2,710 points established in the 1990-91 season.

Abdul-Qaadir has racked up a total of 2,738 and counting.

Unfortunately New Leadership fell to Commerce 51-35 before 1,000 fans who witnessed history.

Check out the full story by The Republican's Russ Held.

Click here to see video coverage.

From East versus West we want to hereby congratulate Bilquis on such an incredible accomplishment and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

When it comes to top scorers in high school basketball, the West beats the East.

And with that said, Abdul-Qaadir has earned "legendary status."

Western Mass. hoops forum haters

2009-01-26T13:51:00.006-05:00

Tonight is the night folks that Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir breaks Rebecca Lobo's high school state scoring record.

We've been digging up some dirt courtesy of the Masslive.com forums and here's what we dug up...

"[New Leadership] is looking at becoming a JV program next year.

So basically she did this playing on a JV level team. Seeing how they win half their games, it appears they are playing JV level competition.

Imagine how many D1 players could score like this if they were playing JV level?" - h00ps

East versus West's response:

Ouch. So now New Leadership is classified as a JV team?

..................................................................................................................................................................

"It'll take her 8 more games than Lobo. She also is 13 inches shorter, which makes it all the more unbelievable." - AAUcoach50

East versus West's response:

Abdul-Qaadir only stands at 5 foot 3 inches, that is crazy.
..................................................................................................................................................................

"It took her 5 years to beat a record that was done in 4!! There should be an asterisk next to this record." - msslive124

East versus West's response:

What is this? The Barry Bonds factor?

If you want to join in on this discussion go here.

Trevor Leahy knows nets

2009-01-26T12:24:00.003-05:00

This kid is brilliant and I hope he gets the patent.

Trevor Leahy, a senior at the Pingree School designed his own unique designed hockey pads.

The pads look like an open net in order to try and fake out his opponents from scoring.

So far the Highlanders off to an 8-8-1 start.

Check out this photo gallery on boston.com.

Top high school contributor 2nd month in a row

2009-01-26T11:58:00.002-05:00

For the second month in a row I'm the number one high school contributor on Yardbarker. But this time it's not even close.

The next person has seven points to my 83.

Lets see how long I can keep the streak going.

Lusitano Alumni and Fans Association recognizes top high school soccer players in Western Mass.

2009-01-26T11:46:00.003-05:00

The All-Star High School Soccer Awards recognize the Western Massachusetts soccer players of the year chosen from the Sunday Republican's All-Scholastic Teams.

Player of the Year award in boys Division I went to Connor DeVito, of Chicopee, with Tara Caney, of West Springfield, receiving the girls award. Division II awards went to Dillon Zaengle, of Hampshire Regional, and Melanie Stier, of Frontier Regional. Division III winners were William Lund, of Monson, Brooke Murphy, of Monson, and Madison Pellegrino, of Sabis.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Angela Roellke from Cape Cod reaches 1,000 mark

2009-01-24T22:41:00.005-05:00

Angela Roellke from Upper Cape Regional sunk in her 1,000 career point last night as her team beat Bristol Aggie, 55-23 in a Mayflower league showdown.

Roellke threw in 16 points to finish with 1,004.

In Western Mass. on Monday...

Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir is three points shy of surpassing Rebecca Lobo's state high school scoring record as New Leadership suits up against Commerce.

The senior has already been recruited by the University of Memphis and will be playing basketball for them next year.

East vs. West who is the best: Cathedral downs CM on the ice

2009-01-24T18:50:00.004-05:00

It's looking like Cathedral really wants to be a Super 8 contender this year.

The Panthers first beat out B.C. High last week, 1-0, and their latest victim is none other than Catholic Memorial, who was ranked at No. 5 in The Boston Globe's Top 20 last week.

Cathedral beat the Knights, 4-3 at the Olympia this afternoon and will take on Acton-Boxboro later this week.

For today the West has proven to be the best.

Andre King strikes for his 1,000th career point

2009-01-24T18:45:00.003-05:00

It's been quite a week of 1,000 point breakers.

Sabis' Andre King is our next Massachusetts player to join the club as he scored 39 points in an 85-42 win over Ware to hit over 1,000 points.

King needed 33.

To watch video highlights check out The Varsity Voice.

Mary Nwachukwu = legendary status in EMASS and country

2009-01-23T17:03:00.006-05:00

Mary Nwachukwu.

No that isn't no typo trust me. I actually recall one night when I was working on the "hawk desk" (what we call the schools desk at the Boston Globe) and "Duffy" one of our copy editors asked if we spelled her name correctly in the roundup and started to spell it out, "M-W-A-C-H-U-K-W-U..."

"Wait...'M'? No it's 'N' not 'M'. Swear to God, hang on a sec, let me triple check that," I said.

I jumped out of my seat and fished in the monthly archives drawer and grabbed a newspaper with the then junior's last name starring in a headline about a week prior and spelled it out.

"N-W-A-C-H-U-K-W-U."

The copy editors and hawk desk were both shocked.

"How do you even remember that?" said "Beans" another one of the copy editors who was in the slot that night.

"I have a good memory I guess. I remember because I always seemed to get her coach calling in her stats to me every time."

Sorry to bore you with an inside story, but this girl is indeed legendary. The now senior has already committed to Boston College and was chased by Wake Forest and Maryland before making her final decision.

Nwachukwu has amassed over 1,100 career points while missing half of her freshman season due to a broken ankle 10 games in.

She is also rated the state's top player and No. 24 forward in the nation in the ESPNU HoopGurlz 100.

She has a fan basis at Dighton-Rehoboth, as she averages 23.7 points per game and averaged 29.9 last season.

Nwachukwu has been featured not only in her local newspaper such as the Tauton Gazette, The Sun Chronicle, Boston Globe, and Boston Herald, but also on a more national level in ESPN RISE Magazine and MaxPreps.com.

That is why she has earned "legendary status" here on East versus West.

Flynn and Masaschi reach over 1,000 mark

2009-01-23T10:49:00.009-05:00

This is a little late, but I don't believe I even launched this blog yet.

Courtney Flynn of St. Mark's surpassed the 1,100 point mark in girl's basketball, which makes her the leading female scorer in her school's history.

An interesting tidbit, of her 1,100 points, none of them are a three-pointer and she has never attempted to make one in her career.

Taylor Masaschi of Chatham netted 22 points in a 49-22 win over Provincetown to soar above 1,000 points as well.

Both girl's are featured in The Boston Globe's Player of the Week.

Mike Moverman named Gatorade...Runner of the Year; Mansfield football update

2009-01-22T17:09:00.007-05:00

The Boston Globe's high school sports editor Bob Holmes reported today that Oliver Ames boy's cross country runner, Mike Moverman was named the 2008-09 Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year by Gatorade and ESPN RISE Magazine.

Mansfield football update:

You can also see in the same post about the latest news of Mansfield High School and football coach Mike Redding.

If you haven't been following that story, well, where have you been? In a nutshell, Mansfield used an ineligible player its last two games and was forced to forfeit, which cost them its runner-up trophy in the Division 2 Super Bowl and also Hockomock league title.

The MIAA punished the Mansfield's football program, by canceling the 2009 season.

Here are some articles about this ongoing and blown out of proportion story.

Darren Doucette joins the 1,000 pt club; Tremblay gets 500 wins

2009-01-22T16:50:00.007-05:00

Darren Doucette, a senior on the Norton High School boy's basketball team, netted a career high 19 points last night in a 58-53 win over Nantucket to make him the sixth player in school history to reach the 1,000 mark.

Doucette rightfully got the lead in today's Boston Globe's high school roundup.

Mark Farinella of The Sun Chronicle has a more in depth look at where Doucette ranks locally.

Other worthy notes in the same roundup:

Winchester wrestling coach Larry Tremblay picked up his 500th career win, one of only three coaches to do so in Massachusetts history. Wrestler Connor Gregory got his 100th career victory also in the 53-6 win over Carver.

Western Mass boy's hoop playoff picture gets trickier

2009-01-22T11:09:00.004-05:00

Check out today's high school hoops roundup by The Republican's Jeff Thomas where Commerce beat host Sci-Tech to make things tricky in the Division 1 playoff picture.

Every Division 1 team has at least two losses while Sci-Tech (8-3, 0-1 Valley League) has the fewest of any of them.

Republican Fab Fives

2009-01-20T13:11:00.003-05:00

The Republican came out with its Fab Fives today.

Do you agree or disagree?

Winchester goalie admits strategy

2009-01-20T11:20:00.003-05:00

I found this to be interesting in Monday's Globe's high school hockey notebook.

Winchester boy's hockey goalie Mike Messuri spoke about his strategy with his size to being successful in the net. Messuri is only 5 feet 4 inches tall, but boasts a 1.10 goals against average allowing 10 all season to put Winchester (8-0-1) on top in the Middlesex league.

But here's what I don't understand. Why would you tell everyone your strength, especially this early in the season?

"A lot of people go upstairs, which I actually like because it's easier for me to control stuff with my hands," Messuri said.

We only hope that none of your competition read that notebook and adjust their game.

Krista Wertman nets 1,000 career points for PVCS

2009-01-20T11:12:00.004-05:00

This actually happened on Friday night so sorry about the delay.

Krista Wertman of the Pioneer Christian Valley School (PVCS) is the first girl in school history to reach the 1,000 career point mark in a 39-30 win over Springfield's Science and Technology (Sci-Tech) last Friday.

The Republican's Fran Sypek has the full recap in the roundup.

Congrats to Wertman for a job well done!

Westfield blanks King Philip

2009-01-19T23:09:00.004-05:00

In a battle between the East and the West in boy's ice hockey tonight, the West persevered. Visiting Westfield blanked King Philip 9-0.

KP isn't having the best year record wise as the Warriors are 2-3 in the Hockomock League and 2-5-1 overall while the Bombers (6-1-1 Berry, 7-2-1 overall) trail East Longmeadow (6-0-3, 8-1-3) in its league standings.

Upcoming East vs. West hockey games:

Saturday, January 24

Cathedral vs. No. 5 Catholic Memorial 1 p.m.

Thursday, January 29

Cathedral vs. Acton-Boxboro 6:30 p.m.

Do I smell controversy?

2009-01-19T18:38:00.009-05:00

According to a post on the masslive.com WMASS girl's hoop forum there's some controversy looming about New Leadership's Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir who is three points shy of surpassing Rebecca Lobo's all-time state scoring record.

Lobo was able to score 2,710 in four seasons. Apparently, Abdul-Qaadir has been tallying points since eighth-grade.

So now the question is, once Adbul-Qaadir breaks the record, will it be legit? Should she be the rightful state's all-time scoring leading with an extra year under her belt?

No opinions yet for me. Lets see what happens once it does happen.

Girls' hockey video: St. Mary's (Lynn) vs. Arlington (2008 semifinal tournament)

2009-01-19T14:00:00.006-05:00

I shot this last year when I was still at the Globe while I was in charge of the girl's hockey beat. I thought it would be fun to shoot some video of the tournament, but I never had the time to really edit all of my clips and produce one video reel. I don't believe I ever used or uploaded it anywhere except for my computer.

This is obviously old stuff, but still worthy enough to share on here for the meantime until the blog gets rolling. I may be uploading some old video on a weekly basis, we shall see.

Update: Ok so I figured out the exact game and location. This was shot at Salem State during the semifinal round of the girl's hockey tournament between St. Mary's (Lynn) and Arlington.

Arlington (16-3-4) didn't score until 8:51 into the final period as Victoria Messuri beat Spartan netminder Kelsey Magrane (11 saves). (video shown above)

Monday's schedules

2009-01-19T13:28:00.004-05:00

Here's tonight's Western Mass. schedules from Masslive.com

For Eastern Mass. click here.

Date	Sport	Away	Home	Time/Status
1/19	Boys Basketball	St. Anthony	Putnam City (OK)	10 a.m.
1/19	Boys Basketball	St. Benedict's	Wheeler (GA)	noon
1/19	Boys Basketball	Abraham Lincoln	LeFlore (AL)	2 p.m.
1/19	Boys Ice Hockey	St. Mary	Chicopee Comp	2 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Sabis	Holyoke Catholic	3 p.m.
1/19	Boys Basketball	Whitney Young (IL)	Mater Dei (Calif.)	4 p.m.
1/19	Boys Basketball	Granby	St. Mary	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Minnechaug	Cathedral	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Ludlow	Chicopee Comp	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Tantasqua	David Prouty	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Chicopee	Holyoke	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Belchertown	McCann Tech	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Westfield	Northampton	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Shepherd Hill	Quaboag	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Ware	Southwick	7 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Monson	St. Mary	7 p.m.
1/19	Boys Basketball	Hampshire	New Leadership	Postponed 01/19 7:30 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Athol	Frontier	7:30 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	East Longmeadow	Hampshire	7:30 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Greenfield	Mahar	7:30 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Easthampton	Pioneer	7:30 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Hopkins	Smith Academy	7:30 p.m.
1/19	Girls Basketball	Mohawk	Turners Falls	7:30 p.m.
1/19	Boys Basketball	Commerce	Central	8 p.m.

New Leadership's Abdul-Qaadir just three points shy of state scoring record

2009-01-16T22:02:00.012-05:00

This has been the talk from the West since the beginning of basketball season.

Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, a senior at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield is three points shy of becoming the new state record holder in career points, which would surpass Southwick native, Rebecca Lobo's mark of 2,710.

Abdul-Qaadir scored 38 points in a 69-51 loss against Millbury and missed her chance at making history as she couldn't sink in a 3-point attempt with 31.2 seconds remaining then fouled out after the rebound.

The Republican's Russ Held has the full recap of the game, which includes quotes from Abdul-Qaadir, New Leadership coach John Williams, and Rebecca Lobo who was in attendance.

New Leadership's next game isn't until Monday Jan. 26 against Commerce.

Other game notes:

Cailin Bullet had 13 points for Millbury, the two-time defending Central Mass. Div. 2 champions, and needs eight more to become the first player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

Ah yes, the good ole Masslive.com forums strike again.

You voted and I responded

2009-01-16T13:07:00.003-05:00

On Batter-up with Bruno I put up a poll asking what sports topics of interest would you prefer to keep coming back to visit the blog.

Well an overwhelming response (four out of seven votes) of "high school and college sports" was received and I also did my research and discovered that the majority of people that found out about my original blog, found it by Googling something high school sports related and something finally clicked.

So I give you East versus West, a blog that will follow high school sports in the state of Massachusetts. Maybe some college happenings will pop up on here from time to time we shall see, but for now this will be the predominant site of all high school sports news.

I will still be blogging on Batter-up with Bruno where it'll mostly be baseball, college, media, and other random happenings. So I hope you will join me for my new blog beat, which I should started years ago and just discovered, awesome.

As always, keeping you posted folks.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

2009-01-14T13:53:00.001-05:00

This site is currently under construction.

An announcement will be made on Batter-up with Bruno when the site will be officially launced.

Thank you.