Free Throws Doom Classical in Loss To Swampscott

LYNN – At this point in its season, the Lynn Classical girls basketball team cannot afford to let wins slip away.However, after finishing 7-of-13 at the free throw line Friday night against Swampscott, the Rams (7-6) couldn’t make up the difference, falling 42-38 to the Big Blue (6-5).Swampscott nailed 17-of-24 at the stripe, which allowed them to claw their way back, and eventually take the lead after a lackluster first half. Classical led 22-16 at the half before the wheels began to fall off.”They made their shots tonight and we didn’t,” said Rams coach Tom Sawyer following the loss. “It’s a simple thing really, you have to make shots to win in basketball and we didn’t do that tonight.”The game started off promising enough for Classical as they used six first quarter points from Kristin Lauria to take a 14-11 led while holding Swampscott star Ara Talkov to just two points in the quarter.A sloppy second quarter followed with both teams combining for just 13 points, allowing the Rams to enter halftime up six.”We only gave up 16 points in the first half so we talked about sticking with the game plan we worked on in practice,” said Sawyer. That game plan, according to Sawyer, was fully based on eliminating Talkov from the paint, a task the Rams did their best to fulfill.Talkov finished with a team-high 13 points for the Big Blue, but Classical made her earn nine of them at the free-throw line.”Holding her to 13 points is one heck of a defensive effort from us I thought, against a Division I caliber player,” said Sawyer. “We forced her to the line and she made 9 out of 10 shots so you just got to give her credit.”Swampscott came out as the aggressors to start the second half, going on an 8-0, including a Talkov turnaround jumper to tie things at 24 apiece. After Classical freshman Chenysse Hill’s (eight points) lay-up put the Rams up two, Swampscott scored the quarters final three points to grab the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter.Classical tried desperately to regain the lead in the final period but couldn’t string together a run to do so. Swampscott’s Alexa Goldman scored six of her 12 points in the final period and finished 6-of-8 at the line for the game.It seemed that while Talkov was priority No.1 for the Rams, Lauria drew as much attention from the Big Blue defense. The Rams captain did finish with a team-high 12 points, but didn’t seem to find her rhythm offensively, much like the rest of the team.”They forced us into outside shots tonight and they weren’t falling,” explained Sawyer. “When we did work the ball inside, they were aggressive. They didn’t do anything special really, they just played a solid 2-3 zone.”Classical will look to get back into the win column next Thursday at Malden in a non-conference tilt.