After a grueling winter season filled with snowstorms around the court and firestorms on it, we have arrived at the MIAA girls basketball state championships.
Ten teams have a shot at titles at Tsongas Center this weekend. They represent some of the state's stalwart programs and also several newcomers. You'll also see a handful of Division 1-caliber college prospects and many more future impact players at additional college levels.
I'm not shocked by the state final lineup — I had eight of 10 correct in my pre-playoff brackets — but I am fascinated by the storylines that have emerged throughout the postseason and entering the three-day slate.
Here are some big-picture thoughts I have as the MIAA season approaches its grand finale.
BRACKET TRACKERS: Division 1 | Division 2 | Division 3 | Division 4 | Division 5
1. There's a new wave of young talent
We spent a lot of time last season and preseason sending off a 2025 class that defined much of the recent top MIAA talent. We're about to do the same with the 2026 class, headlined by stars like Jae Scott on Wachusett. But as though two classes depart, the current sophomore and freshman classes are already slotting in admirably.
On the state championship stage in Div. 1, we'll see Springfield Central 2029 phenom Zi'Yan Wallace, who already boasts a verbal offer from UMass. She's joined by standout underclassmen Gia Mars (2028) and Maya Ocana Saunders (2029). Wachusett fortifies the paint with 2028 center Kyla Yurkus.
In Div. 2, Abby Broderick has broken out in a massive way for Medfield. The sharpshooting 2028 wing holds an offer from Rhode Island. Opposing her is a St. Mary's team powered by its own elite core of 2028 center Charleigh Green (who has a Stonehill offer), plus 2029 guards Sysy Mcausland Emmanuel (multiple Div. 1 offers) and McKenna O'Connell.
Pittsfield's leading scorer is sophomore Caprese Conyers. South Hadley has sophomore Olivia Athas helping lead at guard. And we can also look back at stars who led their squads far in the postseason, like Natick wing Kayla Dunlap, Norwood center Ellen Baranowski, Millis' Caroline Connors (all sophomores) and Minnechaug freshman Zahara Wilson.
Of course, the question after March will always be "Who goes prep?" But right now, the younger classes are paving the way to a bright MIAA future.
2. Division 1 stays in the Big Four family
In five years of the statewide MIAA tournament, only seven teams (out of a possible 20) have reached the semifinals or better. Four of those schools now have three or more appearances in the last five years: Wachusett (five), Bishop Feehan (four), Springfield Central (four) and Andover (three).
Those schools took all four spots this winter. They're also the only four schools to appear in a Div. 1 final since the statewide tournament's inception, and they've each had a turn holding the trophy. Wachusett and Springfield Central will now face off this weekend in a new combination of that state championship bout. It shouldn't be too surprising; during this same five-year window, all four programs have developed at least one future Div. 1 college basketball player and several others bound for Div. 2 and Div. 3.
3. The power rankings still prevail
This feels like the chalkiest year of the MIAA girls basketball tournament so far.
I counted a total of seven upsets with a seed differential greater than three (so an 18 or 17-seed beating a 15 or 16-seed would not be considered an upset here). Three came in the preliminary round, two were in the Round of 32, and then 12-seeds Cohasset and Lenox each upset their respective No. 5 seeds to make the quarterfinals.
That was it. In fact, nineteen of the 20 semifinalists were top-four seeds, plus a lone No. 5 seed in Minnechaug.
I wondered all season how the change in the MIAA power rankings (reducing the maximum margin of victory score to six points) would impact seeding and playoff matchups. I thought some of the brackets — Division 2 in particular — were so loaded that upsets were bound to increase. I was flat out wrong!
For all of the continued discussion people have about the morality or consequences of the MIAA power rankings system, they cannot argue (at least in girls basketball) that it works.
4. One more test for Medfield
The top-seeded Warriors will face third-seeded St. Mary's in their hunt for a third straight Division 2 championship. Medfield enters the game 24-0, and even a stacked Div. 2 bracket hasn't meant a thing.
Norwood and Minnechaug put up great fights — and lost by 20 and 21 points, respectively. Those are somehow the second and third-narrowest wins for Medfield this season behind the 11-point victory over Wachusett at the Comcast Tournament (Medfield also defeated Londonderry, N.H., by 13 points in a technical scrimmage at the Londonderry Holiday Classic).
Let's compare this to, in my opinion, the two other best MIAA teams from the statewide tournament era. Andover completed a perfect season in 2022-23, but the Warriors escaped some close games along the way against North Andover, Wachusett and Bishop Feehan — though in fairness, they played a slower, defense-first style.
In 2024, undefeated Wachusett cruised through most of the Div. 1 tournament, beat Springfield Central by seven points, and then lost in stunning fashion to Bishop Feehan in the championship. A similar script played out with then-unbeaten Norwood in 2022, ultimately losing in the final to Oliver Ames.
The bottom line is that if Medfield convincingly beats a very good St. Mary's team, I might consider them the best MIAA girls squad I've covered, dating back six years.
5. Year of the breakthrough?
We've been talking a lot about perennially dominant programs. But after Div. 1 and Div. 2, several teams have a chance at rare (or historic) state championships.
Bishop Fenwick captured a Division 3 title in 2016, but despite reach the championship game since, hasn't reclaimed the throne. Of course, it's impossible to talk about this team's recent history without noting its best iteration of the program could not compete in 2023-24 due to Fenwick's schoolwide postseason ban. On the opposite side will be Pittsfield, who made the semifinals last year. Pittsfield has never won a state championship and last made the final in 2002.
In Division 4, South Hadley has lost the last two state finals to Cathedral and still seeks its first championship. Can the Tigers take down top-seeded Frontier, another program looking for its first crown?
Then in Division 5, Hopedale won it all back in 2022, but Drury makes its first appearance in a state final. There's a lot of potential for program history in these bottom three divisions.
