Category Archives: Pentucket

December 18, 2012 · 11:57 pm

Pentucket girls defeat North Reading 57-35 after championship banner unveiled

2011-12 Division 3 state champs – March 17, 2012

championship banner unveiled

Alex Moore (11 points) fires from long range

(West Newbury) The Pentucket girls struggled mightily in the first half but returned to last year’s form in the second half as they defeated North Reading, 57-35, in Cape Ann League action on Tuesday night.

The “first half Sachems” could well have been thrown off by the festivities before the game.

The 2011-12 Division 3 state championship banner was unveiled and the thirteen team members from that 23-4 squad were reunited one last time before an adoring home crowd.

This was my first look at the team since the March 17th win over Sabis (55-32) at the DCU Center in Worcester as they captured the D3 title. Leading the way for Pentucket on that memorable afternoon were Sarah Higgins with 22 points and Kelsi McNamara with three long ones.

Elise Makowski soars in the lane over Coley Viselli during a strong Hornet first half

You know that the bar has been set pretty high for a team when they lead by three (20-17) at halftime and you describe them as, “struggling.”

But the 2012-13 Sachems (2-0) were struggling. There wasn’t a shot near or far that they could make consistently. And there were plenty of turnovers.

In the second half, a crucial ingredient in years of success returned……….shooting, and when that happened in the third quarter, the 2012-13 team started giving a great impression of the championship team of the previous season.

North Reading (0-2) actually got within two points (21-19) a minute into the second half but then the Pentucket scorers started hitting shots from everywhere, especially long range.

With shots falling, the Sachem defense could setup and pressure North Reading into a pace that created turnovers and rushed shots.

The visiting Hornets would make just one basket (Tarah Reilly) over the next six minutes while the Sachems put up twenty-one points and blew this one wide open, 42-21, with a minute left in the third quarter.

Kelsi McNamara (13 points) about to pass to a breaking McKenna Kilian (14 points)

Two treys by Alex Moore and one each from Coley Viselli and Kelsi McNamara highlighted the surge. The Sachems also added 7-of-8 free throws and a floater in the lane from McKenna Kilian.

That burst of positive production separated the two teams and North Reading was unable to get within double-figures of the Sachems the rest of the way.

Not only was the championship banner unveiled but the home fans also got a look at seven new players including five freshmen.

Sophomores McKenna Kilian (14) and Kelsi McNamara (13) paced Pentucket. Senior Alex Moore added eleven points. The Sachems next game is Friday night at Triton.

Carly Swartz (11 points) launches a last-second shot

Freshman Carly Swartz (11) led the Hornets. Carly scored all eleven in a first half in which North Reading made things very interesting for Pentucket. 6-5 freshman Jessica Lezon was a defensive presence for NR.

The Hornets will look for their first win at Masconomet on Friday night.

Quietly in the background during the pre-game celebrations was Pentucket coach John McNamara. His 136-18 record at Pentucket, and counting, is truly remarkable.

A look ahead at the Pentucket schedule has them starting off with Division 1 Billerica in January in a non-league game. Last season I saw Billerica nearly defeat Nicole Boudreau and the Andover Golden Eagles at Andover. Their key players were underclassmen. The Pentucket/Billerica contest is at Pentucket and should be special.

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

junior Sydney Snow

Coley Viselli chases a loose ball

Elise Makowski double-teamed by Alex Moore and McKenna Kilian

McKenna Kilian (14 points) and Morgan Maiola

Kelsi McNamara defends

Morgan Maiola (7 points)

Emily Dresser in close

freshman Rebecca Torrisi

Coley Viselli shoots a technical foul shot

Tess Nogueira (6 points) drives

6-5 Jessica Lezon

Coach John McNamara

Alex Moore pressures Carly Swartz

Leigh McNamara returns

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Filed under North Reading, Pentucket

Tagged as Alex Moore, Carly Swartz, Coach John McNamara, Coley Viselli, Elise Makowski, Jessica Lezon, Kelsi McNamara, McKenna Kilian, Tess Nogueira

October 23, 2012 · 8:32 pm

Pentucket defeats Newburyport 3-2 in boys soccer to win ALS Cup

Matt Farrell scores the first goal of the game on a header past NHS goalie Matt Canning.

(Newburyport) A fast start gave Pentucket the ALS Cup and a 3-2 win over Newburyport in boys soccer at World War Stadium on a warm Tuesday afternoon.

Pentucket (12-2-2) had goals by Matt Farrell and Zack Chapman in the first eight minutes and led at the half, 2-0.

Tom Graham lines up his 12th goal of the season early in the second half.

Tom Graham put the Clippers within one (2-1) early in the second half but Matt Farrell converted a long run down the left sidelines five minutes later to restore the two-goal edge. Jordy Steelman tallied the second NHS score in the last minute but there wasn’t time for Newburyport to get a shot at the equalizer.

Newburyport (9-5-2) had lost the previous meeting with Pentucket, 3-1, on September 21st.

Less than two minutes in the Cape Ann League’s top goal scorer (Matt Farrell) headed a shot past NHS goalie Matt Canning. The Clippers defense reacted slowly to a ball in their space and Matt Farrell took advantage.

NHS coach Shawn Bleau called an immediate timeout and issued a full-blown wakeup call to his Clippers.

Unfortunately, six minutes later there was more defensive trouble in front of the Clipper net. Sachem Zack Chapman was able to get a clean straightaway look at a rebound of Matt Farrell’s shot to give Pentucket a 2-0 lead.

The rest of the 40-minute half was almost all Newburyport. By my unofficial count, the Clippers had eighteen shots either on net or near the net. Two of the best were heading setups by Adam Traxler to King Shema and Jordy Steelman.

Trevor Collins hit the crossbar with this late first-half shot.

Right at the end of the half Pentucket’s Trevor Collins broke in from the left but his clean look grazed off the crossbar.

Newburyport’s first goal came off of a terrific setup by junior Adam Traxler four minutes into the second half. Adam drew a crowd (as he usually does) at midfield and was able to lob a pass over the defense. Teammate Tom Graham registered his 12th goal after collecting the pass and firing a low shot past Pentucket’s second half goalie, Cody Sedler. Logan Sherwood was in net for the first half.

Matt Farrell ruined Newburyport’s hopes of getting any closer five minutes later with a strong individual effort. The talented senior made nearly a half-field run down the left side and beat goalie Matt Canning inside the strong-side post. Matt Farrell is the Cape Ann League’s top goal scorer now with fifteen for the season.

Both teams had corner kicks (4 for Pentucket/ 3 for Newburyport) the rest of the way. Newburyport brought goalie Matt Canning up to do a throw-in during the last five minutes which went wide.

Jordy Steelman (10) shoots and scores as defender Ben Craig races to catch up.

In the last minute Jordy Steelman dribbled down the middle by several Pentucket defenders for a score to tighten things to 3-2. Pentucket was able to dominate the rest of the time as Matt Farrell hit the crossbar close to the end of the game.

Matt Farrell ended with two goals and an assist. He also was given plenty of rest by PHS coach Chris Langlois. By my count he was on the sidelines for eighteen minutes. That number gave me an idea of Pentucket’s depth.

Matt may be the leading scorer in the CAL but the most dangerous player in the league could well be Adam Traxler. He put serious pressure on the PHS defense numerous times. His assist on Tom Graham’s goal was one of the best you’ll see.

The ALS Cup is a fundraiser for former NHS student Brent Paulhus who has the disease.

Matt Cote (15) heads a shot toward the Pentucket goal in the second half.

Both Pentucket and Newburyport have the points to qualify for the postseason tournament. Both have two regular season games left this week. Next for Pentucket is a road game with Hamilton-Wenham on Thursday. Newburyport gets Masconomet at home on the same day.

World War Stadium is a great place to watch a game at. The spectators are close to the field with an elevated view. The only issue appears to be the limited space on the team sidelines.

Teams that have uniforms with numbers only on the back (I’m looking at you, Pentucket!) have no idea how difficult that makes it to identify players in pictures.

(Pictures enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Pentucket goalie Cody Sedler congratulates Adam Traxler afterwards.

Matt Canning

Matt Farrell dribbles past John Spears (24)

Alex Salah shields Matt Farrell away from goalie Matt Canning.

Jordy Steelman

Adam Traxler (5) challenges Ben Craig for the ball

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Filed under Newburyport, Pentucket

Tagged as Adam Traxler, Jordy Steelman, Matt Canning, Matt Farrell, Tom Graham, Zack Chapman

April 4, 2012 · 7:29 pm

Pictures from Newburyport Pentucket Ipswich outdoor track meet

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Filed under Ipswich, Newburyport, Pentucket

Tagged as Chris Orlando, Joe Santos, Keith Conway, Sam Brown, Sarah Keiran, Tess Nogueira, Tina Keiran

March 17, 2012 · 9:43 pm

Pentucket defeats Sabis (55-32) to win the Division 3 state title

Pentucket Regional – 2012 Division 3 state champs

Sarah Higgins (22 points) heads for the hoop

(Worcester) Pentucket 55 Sabis 32

There was no denying Pentucket (23-4) this time around. Same building two years earlier the Sachems lost in the state finals to Lee.

Pentucket led from beginning to end in this one capturing the Division 3 crown for the first time. The title game was one of six played on Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester.

The Sachems led from beginning to end thanks to a combination of distracting defenses and take-what-you-give-us offense.

Senior Sarah Higgins (22 points) had a huge game for Pentucket. It seemed as if every time she wasn’t making a layup she was getting fouled. She made her last eleven free throws in a row and totaled fourteen for the game.

Sabis (20-6) gave up the first six points and were down 20-10 after a Tess Nogueira layin with 4 ½ minutes left in the second period.

Jazmine Collins (10 points)

The Lady Bulldog tandem of Jazmine Collins (10 points) and Shyanne Wellington (10 points) kept Pentucket from turning this one into a rout. The Sachem lead was 29-17 at halftime and 39-27 early in the final quarter. The game seemed, at the time, far from over for the charter school from Springfield.

However, a Coley Viselli triple followed on an assist from Alex Moore and up went the team from West Newbury, 42-27, with 5 ½ minutes left. A couple of drives later by Sarah Higgins and that lead was 46-29 with four to go.

Sabis was forced to foul the rest of the way and Pentucket cashed in nine times. The final score was a misleading, 55-32.

Kelsi McNamara (14 points) finds an opening

Kelsi McNamara (14 points) connected on three long ones in the first half. Equally impressive was the willingness of the 5-5 freshman to take the ball to the basket a couple of times.

The Sabis cause was hurt when Janaiya Sanchez went out with an ankle sprain for most of the second period. The 5-7 freshman played in the second half but was definitely limping. She has been on the Sabis varsity since 7th grade.

Jasmine Collins had several impressive coast-to-coast drives. The Lady Bulldog junior started this season with over 1000 points. The unpleasant memory for her in this one, besides the loss, could be making just one of eight free throws.

I always enjoy watching the Pentucket defense in action. Against teams that don’t handle the ball well, down twenty usually happened in the first half. Credit Sabis, they had girls (Jasmine and Janaiya) who could dribble the ball but they ran into trouble trying to find open teammates.

Inbounder Coley Viselli hit Sarah Higgins on a couple of deep fly patterns versus Sabis pressure.

Sabis won their first D3 West title ever this season. They had won eleven straight games before this game.

Pentucket ended on a fifteen-game winning streak. They will not be able to replace Sarah Higgins next season but they have many of their other key pieces back.

Pentucket boxscore

Sabis boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Shyanne Wellington (10 points) defended by Leigh McNamara

Pentucket seniors head for trophy

rebounding action

scoreboard

Sachem coach John McNamara

Coley Viselli

Madison Sinkfield, Leigh McNamara, Jazmine Collins

tie up

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Filed under Pentucket, Sabis

Tagged as Coach John McNamara, Coley Viselli, Jazmine Collins, Kelsi McNamara, Sarah Higgins, Shyanne Wellington

March 14, 2012 · 1:10 am

Sarah Higgins and Kelsi McNamara spark Pentucket past Fairhaven (53-39) in the state D3 semi-finals

Kelsi McNamara (10 points) lines up one of her 4th quarter triples

Sarah Higgins (20 points) layup

(Boston) Pentucket (22-4) secured passage to the state D3 finals on Saturday in Worcester with a solid second half as they defeated Fairhaven (22-3), 53-39, on Tuesday at the TD Bank Garden.

Each team tallied just five points in a second period that may well have been impacted by a serious injury to Fairhaven starter Ashley Brown in the first quarter. Ashley dove out-of-bounds for a loose ball and collided with the edge of the scorer’s table. Considerable time was rightly spent by the numerous medical people on hand to take care of Ashley. She was taken to Mass General.

The Sachems had a 19-18 lead after the sluggish second period and I had no sense of how the second half would go.

As it turned out, for Pentucket it went very well. Their defense produced turnovers (six in the 3rd period) and Sarah Higgins (20 points) hit from the outside, inside, and from the foul line. The Sachems actually took the lead for good (26-24 on a full-court Sarah drive at 4:54) with the advantage being 34-28 heading into the final quarter.

Kelsi McNamara destroyed any Fairhaven thoughts of a last-quarter rally with three long ones. The first one gave Pentucket a 40-30 lead with 5:23 left. The second one, on the next possession, built the Sachem advantage to 43-31 with five minutes left, and the third one kept the lead at twelve (48-36) with 2:45 to go.

Also in that final frame, Sarah Higgins continued to be productive. She had an old-fashioned three, a layup, and a steal and a layup by the two-minute mark. Sarah’s last score put this one out of reach, 51-38, with two minutes left and many reserves saw action the rest of the way.

Basketball is a team game and every coach knows the value of having players who get the ball to scorers. Pentucket’s Alex Moore had four assists in the last quarter. The 5-7 junior assisted Kelsi McNamara on all of her triples and also spotted Sarah Higgins in close for a layup.

Kara Charette (15 points) and Tess Nogueira

Kara Charette led Fairhaven with fifteen points. The Pentucket full-court defense double-teamed Kara to try and keep the ball away from her. That approach paid off especially in the final quarter when Pentucket earned point separation from the Blue Devils by holding the talented senior scoreless.

Pentucket scored the first seven points of the game (Sarah Higgins layup, Coley Viselli triple, and Tess Nogueira layup) but Fairhaven answered with six straight (Kay Mullen jumper, Ashley Brown fast break layup, and a Kara Charette converted rebound).

Coley Viselli (10 points) had three triples in the first half. Kelsi McNamara had three in the final quarter. Fairhaven did not connect from beyond the arc.

Tess Nogueira had four points and during the days leading up to this Saturday’s D3 finals in Worcester will probably be spending considerable prep time at the foul line. The normally reliable free-throw shooter was an abnormal 2-for-11, including one air ball, against Fairhaven.

Pentucket had only six turnovers in the decisive second half.

Ashley Brown

Ashley Brown had already scored seven points before she was injured. I overheard her coach say in the pressroom afterwards that Ashley usually averages fifteen points per game. I suspect that many of the Fairhaven faithful will recall this game with, “What if Ashley…….” I hope that the Blue Devil junior recovers fully for next season.

Two years ago Pentucket reached the D3 finals only to lose to Lee at the DCU Center in Worcester. Maybe this time around things will be different.

Pentucket boxscore

Fairhaven boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge significantly if you click on them.)

Pentucket team afterwards

Kelsey Perron-Sovik and McKenna Kilan

Pentucket celebrates

Fairhaven cheerleaders

Leigh McNamara and Kara Charette

tight defense

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Tagged as Alex Moore, Ashley Brown, Coley Viselli, Kara Charette, Kelsi McNamara, Sarah Higgins, Tess Nogueira

March 10, 2012 · 7:30 pm

Pentucket scoring runs get them past Ipswich (49-30) for the Division 3 North title

Pentucket Regional High School – Division 3 North champs

Pentucket seniors (Sarah Higgins, Tori Lane, Molly McDonough, and Leigh McNamara) head for the D3 North trophy.

(Lowell) Pentucket did in Ipswich with two lengthy scoring runs and defeated the Tigers, 49-30, on Saturday morning at the Tsongas Center.

The Sachems’ (#3 seed) win gives them the Division 3 North title and a trip to the TD North Garden on Tuesday (4:15 PM) to face D3 South champs, Fairhaven, in the state D3 semi-finals.

Pentucket (21-4) rolled to 9-0 lead in Run #1 before Tiger senior Shannon McFayden hit a long one over four minutes into the first period.

A Julia Davis free throw midway through the second quarter had Ipswich (18-5) still in contention, 14-10.

There was no recovery, however, for the Tigers from Run #2. This one lasted 4 ½ minutes, stretching into the third quarter, and totaled twenty unanswered points. That’s right, twenty! It put Pentucket ahead, 34-10, with plenty of second half left but certainly not enough time for Ipswich to make things interesting trailing by that much.

Coley Viselli sees an open lane

In the big run, Pentucket’s organized offense turned up five layups (Tess Nogueira two, one each from Coley Viselli, Alex Moore, and Sarah Higgins). Coley had two free throws, and Sarah had a steal and a score. The real dagger shots in this run were two Alex Moore three’s in the last thirty seconds of the first half. Her last one was a prayer from in front of the Ipswich bench that was arc-less but went in on a line.

All this talk of Pentucket offense tells only half the story. Their trapping defense was equally impressive during this segment forcing four Tiger turnovers and limiting open looks.

Julia Davis, Tiger’s top scorer, was injured just before halftime and didn’t play in the second half. Julia slid off the playing surface chasing a missed shot to got a knee injury for her efforts.

Julia Davis – did not play in the second half

Minus their best rebounder and top scorer, the Tigers were severely handicapped in the second half. However, the Tigers did put a couple of 4th quarter runs together. One went for nine points and the other eight.

In the nine straight, there was a layup by Bridget Curran, two freebies from Shannon McFayden, and a long one from Natalie Soliozy.

The eight straight were all from freshman Masey Zegarowski. She hit from all the scoring spots (triple, jumper, layup, free throw) putting on quite a show.

One of the best matchups late was the two team’s freshman starters (Kelsi McNamara and Masey Zegarowski) defending each other. Those two should see a lot of each other over the next three years, I suspect.

The leading scorers for Pentucket were; Sarah Higgins (12), Alex Moore (10), Coley Viselli (9), and Tess Nogueira (8).

Masey Zegarowski paced Ipswich with eight.

Pentucket has now won thirteen straight. Their opponent on Monday (Fairhaven) has won ten of their last eleven. Fairhaven was the #2 seed in the D3 South. They are 21-2 and from the South Coast Conference.

Credit the Ipswich student section for continuing to support their team long after the outcome was in doubt. (I do not condone obscene chanting and never have. Positive team support always sounds good to me.)

Pentucket boxscore

Ipswich boxscore

(All the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Natalie Soliozy shoots a three

Freshmen Masey Zegarowski and Kelsi McNamara

Brigid OFlynn defends

Bridget Curran gets two

loose ball

Julia Davis defends Tess Nogueira

Ipswich student section

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Filed under Ipswich, Pentucket

Tagged as 2011-12 Division 3 North girls, Alex Moore, Coley Viselli, Julia Davis, Masey Zegarowski, Sarah Higgins

March 9, 2012 · 12:37 am

Pentucket gets by Swampscott easily (53-27) in Division 3 North semi-finals

Coley Viselli (19 points) shoots a three. She made five long ones.

Tess Nogueira (12 points) finds a way to the basket.

(Beverly) No one expected a game like this.

Swampscott (18-4) was embarrassed by Pentucket, 53-27, on Thursday night at Beverly High School and now the Sachems move on to the Division 3 North finals on Saturday (10:30AM) at the Tsongas Center in Lowell against familiar Cape Ann League foe Ipswich.

The Big Blue (#2 seed) had won eight straight, won the Northeast Conference Small, and buried Stoneham in their previous tournament game. None of that carried an ounce of weight versus the Sachems. Swampscott shots were not falling and their zone defense could best be described as “porous.”

The game was certainly a lot easier for Pentucket (#3 seed) because Coley Viselli (19 points) was honed in from long range. Who cares if one went in off the backboard (end of first quarter) and another took a high bounce off the rim and dropped in (start of the 4th quarter)? All five that the talent junior made, counted. Kelsi McNamara (8 points) hit two other triples.

Pentucket’s outside accuracy forced the Big Blue zone to stretch toward the perimeter and opened the inside for Tess Nogueira (12 points) and Sarah Higgins (9 points).

It took Pentucket a while to get going but Coley’s backboarded triple gave them a 7-6 first quarter lead. They would never trail again.

Coley Viselli heads for the basket.

Coley hit her second three to start the second quarter. Then she took a Big Blue turnover in for a layup. She followed that with another triple assisted by Kelsi McNamara. That was all in the first 1 ½ minutes of the second quarter and was part of an eleven-point run that extended the Sachems lead to, 15-6.

By the time the second quarter ended Kelsi had added her two long ones, Swampscott had eight turnovers, and they were in trouble at halftime, 25-12.

I was sure that the #2 seed was much better than what I had seen in the first half. The local papers had stories about how big the rivalry was and also Niki Laskaris, who had twenty-six points against Stoneham, had only two points in the first half.

The Big Blue did make a response. Niki had six points in the third quarter and her layup with 4 ½ minutes left cut the Sachem lead to 29-21.

Ara Talkov (11 points) gets to the rim.

But that was as close as it got. Over the next six minutes of playing time, extending into the final quarter, Pentucket put a 14-2 run together and turned this game into a 43-23 rout. Almost all the damage in this winning segment came on the inside. Sarah Higgins (9 points) got three layups and Tess Nogueira one. Tess also had two free throws. And Coley drained her fourth triple.

The last 6 ½ minutes of the game were played by a fatigued and frustrated Swampscott team that on this day did not have the energy to make any sort of late challenge.

Junior Ara Talkov (11 points) and Senior Niki Laskaris (9 points) led the Swampscott scorers.

Pentucket (20-4) defeated Ipswich (Saturday’s D3 final opponent) 42-27 on January 24th at Pentucket.

The entire Ipswich team was on hand for the Pentucket/Swampscott game. Late in the game, the Pentucket student section started chanting, “We want Ipswich, We want Ipswich.” I’m not sure if they knew that the team they wanted was sitting to the left of them in the same section of seats under the basket.

Alex Moore, Tess Nogueira, and Sarah Higgins were all given medical attention during the game. Alex was limited to two points. With Coley on fire, Alex’s usual point production wasn’t needed by the Sachems.

Pentucket has now won twelve straight.

I’m not too keen on seating under the basket on both ends. Okay, I’m selfish because that’s where I like to stand to take pictures. In this game I was forced off to the side.

Credit the Swampscott student section for hanging around for the entire game and enduring the “Scoreboard, scoreboard,” chant from the Pentucket kids. Tougher still was the variation of “It’s all over,” that came out, “It’s a blowout,” as the Big Blue deficit reached twenty points.

Pentucket boxscore

Swampscott boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge if you click on them.)

Swampscott student section

Liza Brackbill in Swampscott traffic

Alex Moore defends

Niki Laskaris (9 points) floats in

Caroline Murphy looks for pass

tight defense

Sarah Higgins (9 points) steals

Kelsi McNamara (8 points) puts up a runner.

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Tagged as Ara Talkov, Coley Viselli, Kelsi McNamara, Nike Laskaris, Sarah Higgins, Tess Nogueira

March 4, 2012 · 12:19 am

Danvers cruises to D3 North semis with (75-45) win over Pentucket

Will Angelini (20 points) contests George Merry (13 points)

Eric Martin (23 points) including nineteen in the first half

(Danvers) The Danvers Falcons made it look way too easy as they buried Pentucket, 75-45, in the D3 North quarterfinals on Saturday night at DHS.

Danvers moves on to face Wayland in the D3 North semifinals at Wilmington High School on Tuesday (7PM).

In this one, Danvers (17-4) broke away from a 6-6 tie after four minutes and by halftime were in complete control (44-24).

Pentucket (14-8) was smothered defensively down one end and victimized down the other end by a team packed with players able to get to the rim.

Danvers scored twenty-five baskets in the first three quarters and twenty-one of them were layups or converted rebounds. Let’s just say they turned up plenty of high percentage shots.

Junior Eric Martin (23 points) had nineteen in the first half. Danny Connors (18 points) added twelve first half points.

Meanwhile, Pentucket had very few good looks thanks to persistent man-to-man pressure. A big plus for Danvers was that defenders had shot-blockers beyond them closer to the basket. There were very few easy Sachem attempts.

6-6 Will Angelini (20 points) led Pentucket scorers with nifty moves around the basket. When he went out with his second foul with 2 ½ minutes left in the first quarter the Danvers lead was only 13-8. The rest of the quarter the Falcons put a 10-4 run in place and took a 23-12 lead over the team from West Newbury.

Danny Connors (18 points) layup

Halfway through the second period that 11-point quarter edge had become twenty (38-18) and you knew that things were not likely to get any closer. The Falcon advantage increased to 63-34 by the end of the third quarter.

The most exciting play of the game was in the second quarter when Will Angelini flew in from the right on a feed from Patrick Kelly and put down a rousing dunk.

When DHS coach John Walsh announced in the press that Corey McNamara was the best shooter he had seen this year, you knew that the word would reach the Falcon defenders. Corey has been no stranger to tight coverage this season. That Danvers could limit the senior to eight points says something about their defenders.

One nice thing about this type of game is that the reserves get to play in front of a large crowd. There were people turned away.

Corey McNamara (8 points) defended by Jon Amico

DHS is close to installing permanent bleachers. The extra seating provided by those bleachers would have helped in handling a crowd estimated between 800-1000.

The students on hand were especially well behaved after school officials got within range of them.

The lights in the gym flickered with about six minutes left. Someone quipped at the time that the lights had gone out for Pentucket quite a while earlier.

6-7 George Merry ran into foul trouble covering Will Angelini but still ended up with thirteen points.

Will Angelini and Corey McNamara have been significant players for the Sachems for a number of seasons. There was seldom a game in which they weren’t heavily covered. They still managed to score a lot of points. Replacing the two of them will be a huge challenge for PHS coach Leo Parent.

After watching Danvers play I left wondering how any team in D3 can beat them. They executed so well at both ends.

Danvers is a team that plays the regular season against D2 teams and then drops down to D3 for the tournament. Most D3 schools in that arrangement struggle to qualify for the tournament (10 wins) and often need the Sullivan Rule to get in. Not Danvers. They won the challenging Northeast Conference (South) this season. They could well be playing in the Worcester Centrum later this month.

Two coaches with games tomorrow were in the crowd – Tom L’Italien (Newburyport) and John McNamara (Pentucket girls).

Danvers boxscore

Pentucket boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge significantly if you click on them.)

Will Angelini

Nolan Dragon

Danny Connors and Parker Kelly

action under the basket

Will Angelini floats in

George Merry

Nick Bates looks for an opening

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Tagged as Corey McNamara, Danny Connors, Danvers High School, Eric Martin, George Merry, Pentucket High School, Will Angelini

February 19, 2012 · 8:23 pm

Pentucket defense crucial in win over Revere (50-27) in the opening round of the Girls Division of the IAABO Board 130 Basketball Classic

Tess Nogueira (10 points) breaks away with second half steal.

Kelsi McNamara (14 points) gets an open look along the baseline.

(Lawrence) What can you say about the Pentucket Sachems girls basketball team?

On an afternoon when key defender Sarah Higgins is on the sidelines (illness), high scoring Coley Viselli struggles to get four points, and the Sachems make just 4-of-25 3-point attempts, they still have enough to defeat Division 1 Revere, 50-27.

This was the opener of the IAABO Board 130 Basketball Classic on Sunday afternoon at Central Catholic. Pentucket will return tomorrow afternoon to face the winner of the Archbishop Williams/Central Catholic game at 5:30PM.

The Revere Patriots (10-7) came in having won six of their last seven in the Northeastern Conference North. They are probably happy that in the state tourney they’ll be in Division 1 and Pentucket will be in Division 3.

Pentucket (17-4) had their staple full-court pressure working from the outset. By game’s end they had forced the Lady Patriots into twenty-seven miscues.

But in the first half of this game, the Revere turnovers didn’t lead directly to points while the Sachem long-range shooting was scary bad (2-for-19). Those two factors kept this game close (20-13 at the half). In fact, 1 ½ minutes into the second half, two Amy Rotger free throws had Revere still in this one, 22-17.

The rest of that third quarter everything came together in a nice package for the Sachems and they went on a decisive 14-3 run.

Pentucket’s first three scores in this surge were directly off of steals by Kelsi McNamara, Tess Nogueira, and Alex Moore. Next, Tess found room in close for a layup.

Caitlyn Caramello (9 points) battles Tess Nogueira

Revere stopped the bleeding (8-point run) temporarily with a Caitlyn Caramello layin but back came Pentucket with two of their four 3’s (Kelsi McNamara and Sydney Snow). The Sachems were clearly in command 36-20 after three quarters.

Revere was held scoreless for the first 3 ½ minutes of the final quarter partly because of four more turnovers. Meanwhile Pentucket was putting up ten unanswered points to get away even further, 46-20. Reserves dominated the rest of the game. The final score was 50-27.

In a game where Coley Viselli struggled for points, Kelsi McNamara (14), Alex Moore (12) and Tess Nogueira (10) picked up the slack nicely. Freshman Kelsi had eleven of her points in the breakaway second half.

Caitlyn Caramello paced Revere with nine points. Michaela Maguire added five including a put-back just before the halftime buzzer.

Pentucket is now on a nine-game winning streak. They have won fourteen of their last fifteen.

The last time I saw them lose was in a state tournament game last year at Wilmington High School against St. Mary’s of Lynn the eventual D3 champ.

Can Pentucket be in the D3 state championship game at the Worcester Centrum in mid-March? Their multiple ways of hurting an opponent suggest to me that they can do it. We’ll see.

Pentucket box score

Revere box score

(All the pictures above and below enlarge significantly if you click on them.)

Coley Viselli gets to the rim

Michaela Maguire and Emily Dresser

battle under the basket

Liza Brackbill

Kelsi McNamara defends

Amy Rotger and Sydney Snow

Alex Moore (12 points) floater in lane

tie up

McKenna Kilian

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Filed under Pentucket, Revere

Tagged as AABO Board 130 Basketball Classic, Alex Moore, Caitlyn Caramello, Coley Viselli, Kelsi McNamara, Pentucket Sachem girls basketball, Revere Patriots girls basketball, Tess Nogueira

February 13, 2012 · 11:58 pm

Pentucket wins 7th straight defeating Newburyport 49-30 in girls basketball

Coley Viselli (15 points) applies backcourt pressure to Molly Rowe.

Sarah Higgins (13 points) breaks away after steal

(West Newbury) Pentucket defeated Newburyport, 49-30, on Monday night in a game that was settled in the third quarter.

The Sachems (15-4) scored the first fourteen points in that decisive quarter, helped by six Clipper turnovers, and Pentucket’s 24-17 halftime lead burst into a 38-17 rout with 2 ½ minutes left in that quarter.

The Clippers (11-7) put together a 10-2 run in the final quarter but had given up way too much ground in the previous quarter to pose any sort of challenge late.

Pentucket has now won seven straight and twelve of their last thirteen. To say that they’re on a roll, is an understatement. Their pressure defense forces opponents to be uncomfortable anywhere on the court. Against the Clippers, their half-court offense looked very smooth.

Beth Castantini (10 points) shoots over Tori Lane

The Clippers/Sachems matched up in the season opener on December 12th in Newburyport. Pentucket won, 44-37. In that one, Newburyport trailed by just two (35-32) with five minutes left. The Sachems pressure defense worked but their poor long-range shooting kept the game close.

This time the Sachems kept the pressure defense (forced twenty turnovers) but took fewer long ones and instead took more drives to the basket. Pentucket made fifteen baskets (other than free throws) and twelve of them were layups, another basket was a converted rebound, and the other two were three’s.

The Pentucket pressure gave Newburyport a lot of problems as expected but the killer for the Clippers was the early foul trouble of Lilly Donovan and Mary Pettigrew. Both of them had four fouls, two minutes into the second half.

Coley Viselli breaks loose

It was no coincidence that with Lilly and Mary on the bench Pentucket’s five-point run, that started the third quarter, turned into a fourteen-point run.

The Pentucket points in The Run were; Leigh McNamara -free throw, Sarah Higgins – two layups (assisted on one of them by Alex Moore), and Coley Viselli – layup, two free throws and a three assisted by Sarah Higgins.

The home team started fast jumping in front 14-5 after three minutes. But credit the Clippers, they rallied back into contention (16-13) midway into the second quarter with a three by Beth Castantini from Lilly Donovan within the rally.

A jump shot by Meri Adsit (from Molly Rowe) with ten seconds left had the Clippers within range (24-17) at the half.

Last year the Clippers upset Pentucket (53-52) at Pentucket so the seven-point halftime deficit didn‘t appear insurmountable. But six minutes of playing time later, that wasn’t the case.

Coley Viselli (15 points) led all scorers while teammates Sarah Higgins and Tess Nogueira had 13 points apiece. The trio was solid on defense as well.

Aly Leahy defended by Alex Moore

Beth Castantini paced Newburyport with ten points while teammate Aly Leahy had nine points.

Pentucket has their last home game on Wednesday against Triton.

Newburyport will look to end their four-game losing streak at Amesbury on Thursday. AHS coach Chris Perry just “happened” to be at the game tonight.

There was a rumor at the game that the gymnasium would soon be named after Al Gore. Most of the folks there were hot under the collar by game’s end.

One of the referees gave NHS coach Gregg Dollas a warning (for friendly advice?) with two minutes left in the first half. From long range, it sounded to me as if the referee told the scorekeeper, “Two minute warning on the Newburyport coach.” That somehow sounded like football terminology to me.

The young lady singing the national anthem without a microphone gets an emphatic, “Wow!”

Pentucket boxscore

Newburyport boxscore

(All the pictures above and below will enlarge if you click on them.)