Patriots perfect: Revere stays unbeaten with last minute win over Danvers

DANVERS – Two of the girls basketball heavyweights in the Northeastern Conference finally got to meet each other on Thursday at Danvers after Mother Nature forced a 48 hour delay in the showdown.And for once, the advance billing lived up to the game itself.Unbeaten Revere was on the ropes as Danvers’ Kellie MacDonald had lit up the Patriots for 26 points in the first 29 minutes. But the Patriots held the Falcons star scoreless down the stretch as Marisa Parent’s runner with 37 seconds left broke a 46-46 tie and led Revere to a 50-46 win.The Patriots (13-0, 11-0 NEC) hadn’t played a game closer than 12 points all season until Thursday and coach Diana DeCristoforo was happy to see how her team handled the pressure cooker.”We were up for this game,” DeCristoforo said. “We knew that Danvers had a talented team and we had to be ready. It says a lot about our team that we were able to win a close game like this after not having many of them this season.”It looked for all the world like the Falcons (10-3) were going to come out of the gym with the victory thanks to MacDonald’s effort and stellar defensive work that kept the explosive Revere transition game in check all night. But the Patriots’ relentless defensive pressure forced Danvers into four critical turnovers in the final minutes ? and the difference in the game.”That’s an excellent team,” Danvers coach Pat Veilleux said. “We got a little careless with the ball at the end but good teams like Revere make you do those things. That is definitely one of the best teams in Eastern Mass. right there but I am so proud of how my girls played.”Revere’s defense gave Danvers fits for much of the first two and a half quarters on Thursday and the Patriots had a 32-23 lead midway through the third quarter, looking set to run Danvers right out of the game.Sarah Palazola and MacDonald would have none of that notion, though. The two teamed to score nine of the next 11 points and when MacDonald canned a three from the right left baseline as time expired in the third, the Falcons stunningly had a 34-32 lead.”Kellie is a great player,” DeCristoforo said. “She played really well. Great players always seem to rise up to the big occasions.”Fortunately for Revere, the Patriots have a bunch of great players on their own roster and they came to the forefront in the final period.Danvers pushed its lead to six twice in the opening minutes of the fourth, completing a 19-4 run that made it 42-36 with 6:00 remaining.Morgan Jenkins got Revere on the comeback trail when she scored off one of her 16 rebounds to cut the lead to four. A Parent free throw followed before Gena Restiano canned a three following a timeout to deadlock the game at 42 with 3:55 remaining.Palazola put Danvers back in front by a deuce before Ashley DiFraia and Restiano scored baskets six seconds apart to put Revere back up 46-44 with 2:34 remaining.”Our kids worked really hard,” Veilleux said. “But you can’t throw the ball around like we did against good teams. That’s been one of the problems we have at times.”Neither team would score for nearly two minutes before Kasey Sherry’s pull-up jumper from the baseline with 50 ticks remaining tied the game again.DeCristoforo called timeout with 40.7 seconds left and off the inbounds play, Parent knifed in and scored in the paint to give Revere back the lead. Jenkins hit one of two free throws with 21 seconds left before Danvers missed two chances to tie the game in the final 18 seconds.Restiano’s free throw with 2.9 left on the clock finally allowed the Patriot fans to exhale.”Having a close game like this is good for us,” DeCristoforo said. “It’s good for the kids to see they can win games like this.”