Girls Hoop: Lynnfield rallies to clinch tourney spot

The Lynnfield High girls basketball team qualified for the state tournament Friday and did it in style, coming back from a 10-point deficit to defeat rival North Reading 43-42, on a free throw with three seconds remaining.?We were down 10 at the half and in foul trouble the whole game,” Lynnfield coach Bob Melillo said.Sam Felipe provided the late-game heroics when she hit a free throw in the final seconds and she succeeded in containing North Reading’s leading three-point shooter, Carly Swartz, who finished with three points.Emma Mancini was the big gun offensively for Lynnfield with 17 points and 14 rebounds. The Pioneers are 10-2 and in first place in the Cape Ann League Small.St. Mary’s 85, Matignon 38At Cambridge, the Spartans (13-1, 7-0 Catholic Central League) put this one away early, taking a 56-17 lead by the half. Jennie Mucciarone and Sharell Sanders each had 15 points at the half and didn’t play the rest of the way. A couple of player swho haven’t seen a lot of time got the opportunity to shine and they didn’t disappoint. Mia Nowicki scored 15 points and Sophia Holmes, 11. Freshman Amanda Idusuyi had six points and 11 rebounds and two players, freshman Elizabeth Weisse and sophomore Sayo Falayi saw their first varsity action.St. Mary’s is 13-1, 7-0 Catholic Central League.English 78, Gloucester 43At Lynn, the Bulldogs (12-0, 9-0 Northeastern Conference) are off to their best start since Deidre Jackson and Kara Lunden led a talented Bulldog squad to an 18-0 season in 1993-94. English’s balanced attack was led by Diondra Woumn (20 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists) and Deidra Newson (17 points, 15 rebounds). Gloucester ran a box-and-one on sharpshooter Catherine Stinson, who still came away with 11 points and eight assists.Manchester-Essex 64, Saugus 56At Saugus, the Sachems led 31-30 at the half, but came out a little sluggish in the third quarter and Manchester-Essex capitalized on the opportunity. Norma Waggett led the way for Saugus with 32 points. Courtney Hollett had 10 points and Gianna Zirpolo and Mikayla Niles, six points each. Saugus is 2-12.Danvers 45, Peabody 33At Danvers, Hannah Llewellyn led the Falcons (8-5) with 19 points in what coach Pat Veilleux called his team’s “best win of the season.”It’s unbelievable the way our girls played,” he said. “We’d just come off a big loss to Methuen the other night, and if we’d lost (Friday), we’d have had to go to English with two straight losses.”Llewellyn struggled in the first half, scoring only four points.”But she hit four threes in the second half and one of them was a backbreaker,” Veilleux said. “We were up by 10, and she came down and hit one that put us up by 13. And that pretty much was it.”Veilleux gave a shoutout to assistant coach Jon Levine, “who did a great job all night switching defenses,” Veilleux said. “I don’t think Peabody knew what we were doing all night long.”Carolyn Scacchi had 10 for the Tanners (8-3) who were cold (4-for-16) from the foul line.”Danvers really took it to us,” Peabody coach Jane Heil said. “They out-hustled, out-muscled, out-rebounded, and ‘out-percentaged’ us at the line (Danvers as 12-for-17).”Bishop Fenwick 64, Cardinal Spellman 37At Peabody, the Crusaders (6-6) got a huge game from Colleen Corcoran (20 points, 8 rebounds). Bridgett Corcoran chipped in with eight points and 10 rebounds and Gianna Pizzano with 13 points.?We played very focused and with intensity from start to finish,” Bishop Fenwick coach Adam DeBaggis said.Marblehead 42, Beverly 33At Marblehead, Emily Freedland and Mia Bonjiorno had 12 points each to lead the Magicians (7-4). Marblehead had its press working well and shot about 50 percent, according to coach Wayne Hanscom.Minutemen 47, Tech 22At Tech, the Tigers (1-13) had a strong effort on the defensive end, but the offense could not find its way. Jazmin Castro-Novas had seven points, and controlled the paint on the offensive and defensive end. Zulmary Gonzalez and Lila Nieves had strong performances