Girls basketball: Classical edges Gloucester

It was a night of nail-biters in girls basketball Tuesday, with Classical pulling out a two-point win over Gloucester and Lynnfield doing the same against Amesbury, while Bishop Fenwick lost to Archbishop Williams by a point for the second time this season.Classical 51, Gloucester 49At the Benjamin A. Smith Field House in Gloucester, the Rams (6-6) had the lead for most of the night but Audrey Knowlton’s 3-pointer with just under a minute to go looked to have given the hosts a shot to win.Diamond Doe had other ideas, however, as she immediately put the Rams back in front and added a free throw with 15 seconds left to make it a two-point game. Gloucester had two shots to tie the game in the final moments, but the iron was unkind.”The ball was just bouncing our way at the end,” Classical coach Tom Sawyer said.Hannah Byrne also had an outstanding game for Classical, finishing with 16. Brianna Capone chipped in nine as well. Gloucester got 15 points from Heather Cain and 14 from Knowlton in the loss. Gloucester’s Hannah Cain, who injured her knee against English last week, did not play.Williams 65, Fenwick 64At Fenwick, the line score in this one told the story. The Crusaders, who trailed by 22 at the half, scored 11 points in each of the first three quarters before exploding for 31 points in the final eight minutes.”We couldn’t put the ball in the ocean all night,” Fenwick coach Tim Harrington said. “We started to hit in the fourth quarter. We almost stole it.”Fenwick has three one-point losses in the Catholic Central League with the other one coming against Cardinal Spellman.Amy Pelletier had a big night for Fenwick (7-5) with 24 points, including a 3-pointer with about three seconds left that cut the Williams lead to one. Sidney Southern had 18 points and Lizzy Trainor chipped in with 16. Williams was led by Val Driscoll, a 6-4 senior center who is heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. She had 30 points.Lynnfield 44, Amesbury 42At Amesbury, the Pioneers (4-11) pulled one out at the buzzer after trailing by eight points with under three minutes to go. Brittney Hunt (7 points, all in the fourth quarter) stole the ball and scored to tie the game and Sarah Goldstein (13 points, 13 rebounds) did the same with five seconds left to win the game.”It was a great comeback for us,” Lynnfield coach Bill Adams said.English 60, Winthrop 38At Winthrop, Jenicia Duggins had 18 points for the Bulldogs (12-1, 10-0 Northeastern Conference), who also benefited from strong outings by Miranda Hogan (14 points) and Kayla Murkison (12 points). Johna Fisher had 14 points for the Vikings.Peabody 63, Saugus 41At Saugus, Janelle Rodriguez was a force for the Tanners, scoring 18 points to lead all scorers. Ginny Fleming had 12 points and Carissa Milley, nine points for Peabody.Saugus sophomore Alyssa Furtado had 15 points with 11 coming in the second half. Jacki Strangie had 10 points for the Sachems (2-11).Revere 54, Swampscott 34At Swampscott, the Patriots led 44-19 after three quarters and never looked back. Gina Restiano led the way with 18 points and Morgan Jenkins contributed 15. Swampscott, still playing without leading scorer Kara Gilberg (out due to illness), was led by freshman Ara Talkov (10 points). The Big Blue are 7-6.Gr. Lawrence 57, Tech 39At Tech, the Tigers couldn’t do much to slow down Greater Lawrence’s big guns (Chabelli Villa, 23 points, and Paola Gutierrez, 18 points) despite strong play by Octavia Harper (12 points), Jenna Kulakowski (6 points) and freshmen Lhyeshia Robinson (6 points) and Tori Park (4 points). Tech is 3-10.