Lynnfield girls fall short against Masconomet

LYNNFIELD – The Lynnfield girls basketball team fought tooth and nail with undefeated Masconomet Friday, and despite falling 53-45, the Pioneers proved that they will be a dangerous drawing come tourney time.The Pioneers started and finished strong, but it was the visitors’ play in the middle periods that pushed the Chieftains to a tenth consecutive victory to start the season.”You never want to feel good about losing, but we played a good game against a very good and well-coached team tonight,” said Lynnfield coach Bob Melillo. “We have a group of good, tough kids who I can challenge to play hard and who will respond as they did late in this game.”After the first quarter ended with the score tied at 14, Masco began to pick up the pace, opening up a 23-16 lead with 4:50 remaining in the half after Stephanie Mini grabbed an offensive rebound (a reoccurring theme in the game) before finding Nicole Femino, slicing to the net for a lay up. Lynnfield cut the lead to two but allowed Femino (15 points) open space with time dwindling, allowing the senior to bank in a long three-pointer just before the buzzer sounded.”It’s funny because we couldn’t hit the open threes all night long,” said Masco coach Bob Romeo. “Lets face it, you don’t hit many of those, but we got the ball up the floor quickly and Nicole didn’t hesitate. That was a big moment in this game.”The Chieftains dominated on the glass throughout the contest, particularly on the offensive end where Kate Kitsakos (7), Mini (5) and Lexi Nason (4) combined to pull down 16 offensive rebounds.Masco used the momentum swing to open the third quarter on a 9-0 run which left the lead at 14 (35-21). The Pioneers in the meantime committed four turnovers (28 total), one coming on a 5-second inbound violation.”That was a big reason behind this loss,” said Melillo of the giveaways. “They didn’t do anything special defensively to make us turn it over that much. Ten of those were probably unforced and you just can’t have those against such a good team.”Down 40-29 entering the final period, Lynnfield rediscovered its offense, outscoring the visitors 16-13 down the stretch. The Pioneers trailed by 10 with 4:41 remaining before a string of baskets, the last coming on a strong move by Emma Mancini (game-high 16 points) cutting the deficit to six and forcing the Chieftains into a timeout.The visitors would go on to hit five of eight free throws the rest of the way.”They didn’t quit the whole night,” explained Romeo of the persistent Lynnfield effort. “We had a few different opportunities to kind of break their spirit, but every time we made a mistake they capitalized. They did a great job on getting to the basket tonight and we could never really put them away.”Mancini scored six points in the first quarter, which the Pioneers had the upper hand in. Tonianna Dicesare (8 points) and Katherine Lawless (seven points) were key contributors on offense for the Pioneers as well. Hannah Kiernan added 12 points for Masconomet.