Northeastern Conference South prevails in girls hoop all-star game

Normally, Danvers and Gloucester are rivals, but put them on the court together, and magical things happen.A quintumverate of Fishermen and Falcons teamed for 15-2 run early in the second half that was decisive for the Northeastern Conference’s South Division All-Stars in their 85-72 win over the North, Friday night, at Swampscott High.Gloucester’s Hannah Cain led all scorers with 21 points, while Sarah Palazola of Danvers added 16. Gloucester’s Audrey Knowlton added 13.Click here for more photosFor the North, Classical’s Hannah Byrne and Peabody’s Carolyn Scacchi led the way with 11 points, while Salem’s Amanda Wilkins added 10.”Everyone played, and no one got hurt,” said North coach Diana DeCristoforo, of Revere. “It was fun.”Morgan Jenkins of Revere, the North Division MVP, scored six points in the first half but did not play in the second half. Jenkins is recovering from illness, and should be ready to play when the undefeated Patriots face either Lynn English or Somerville in their first game of the state tournament.”She was very sick and spent three days in the hospital,” DeCristoforo said. “She didn’t practice yesterday, and for precautionary reasons we held her out of the second half (tonight).”Cain, Palazola and Knowlton combined for the South’s last eight points of the second half to give their team a 50-36 lead at halftime. Behind a couple of buckets from Scacchi, the North closed the gap to seven (52-45) four minutes into the second half, but the South’s second rotation of Cain, Knowlton, Palazola, Kasey Sherry of Danvers and South Division MVP Kellie Macdonald, also of Danvers, blitzed the North with a quick flurry that eventually got the lead up to 20 (67-47) when Cain nailed a 5-footer with 13:16 to go.The North got as close as nine when Byrne made a 3-point play with 7:54 left, but the Danvers/Gloucester contingent quickly spread the lead again, with Cain accounting for six points in an 8-2 run that all but put the game away.Gena Restiano of Revere won the three-point contest, defeating Cain, 6-5, on a shot that rolled around the rim and fell in just before the 30-second time limit expired.Restiano had the crowd behind her when she made her first seven shots in the preliminary round, but missed her last three and then had to beat Jenkins, who also made seven treys in the preliminary round, in a two-shot tiebreaker to qualify for the final against Cain.