Former Classical star Louinord carries Salem State women to win

SALEM – The Salem State College women’s basketball team has been a stalwart in the NCAA Division 3 Women’s Basketball Championship for the better part of three decades, losing in the second round to DeSales College last season.But with the graduation of Lindsey Watkins, Melissa Macchi and Michelle Gosselin, the Lady Vikings had three gigantic holes to fill coming into this season.Fortunately, venerable coach Tim Shea possesses a frontline in Danielle Jenkins and Lynn’s Manise Louinord that has the ability to take games over.On Friday at the Twohig Gymnasium in the opening round of the Salem State Tip-off Classic, they did exactly that.Louinord scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half while Jenkins, a preseason All-American, also had 17 points, including the game-winning free throw with 1.8 seconds left that gave SSC a 75-74 win over pesky Endicott College.”Manise certainly put us over the top,” Shea said. “She got us points but also was great on defense. She came up with a couple of big steals down the stretch.”The Lady Vikings (1-1) needed all of the points Jenkins and Louinord gave them because Endicott kept making it a habit of climbing off the canvas when Salem looked to have put them away.Lauren Vassallo’s game high 22 points were a big part of the comeback, so was the 3-point shooting of Bri Papa, who hit 6-of-10 from behind the arc, including a game-tying bucket with 18.5 seconds left, en route to 18 points.”Other than Manise and Danielle, we need to come up with another scorer,” Shea said. “That will keep teams from doubling down on our post players.”The Lady Vikings led for most of the first half and had a 29-22 lead with 5:30 left, but Endicott closed the half with a 19-10 run to take a 38-37 lead on Vassallo’s basket with six seconds left.The second half proved to be a back-and-forth affair as neither team took more than a four point lead.”It’s pretty tough because we have so many good players coming in,” Louinord said. “And they’re all good and we have to figure out who can play with who.”Jenkins helped stake the Lady Vikings to a 47-45 lead early in the second half despite playing with three fouls. But Papa gave Endicott the lead right back with her fifth three of the night.SSC freshman Amy Barry responded with a trifecta of her own to spark a 7-0 run that Louinord capped with a putback that gave the Lady Vikings a 54-48 lead with 12:22 to go. Vassallo, however, responded with six straight points over the next 90 seconds to pull the visitors back within a point.Louinord, a junior, then used her speed to draw a foul and score off a steal to give SSC a 58-54 lead with 10:00 remaining. But Endicott continued chipping away and when Jenkins drew her fourth foul with 7:32 to go, Lauren Zaniboni hit two free throws to make it 62-60 and set the stage for a frantic finish.With the game tied at 64 after a Andrea Kosek putback, Louinord went back to work, scoring the Lady Vikings next five points to give Salem a 69-66 lead with 3:30 to go. But Endicott fought back again to take a 70-69 lead with 1:55 left.Jenkins gave SSC back the lead at 72-70 with a conventional 3-point play before a Louinord put back on a Jenkins airball with 28.9 seconds left gave the Lady Vikings a 74-71 lead.But Papa buried her sixth triple of the game to tie the game in the final seconds. After a timeout, the Lady Vikings went to their All-America candidate, Jenkins, who was fouled with 1.8 seconds left.She hit one-of-two from the line and the Lady Vikings survived Vassallo’s last second prayer to escape with the win.”We knew we had to comeback (after a season opening loss to Plymouth State) and play as a team,” Louinard said. “And we did that.”