MIAA Roundup: Danvers girls hoop ousted in first round

The Danvers girls basketball team opened the Division 2 North first round of the MIAA state tournament Thursday night as the No. 11 seed, and the Falcons were matched up against Pentucket, the No. 6 seed. Danvers could not find enough offensive firepower to keep pace with Pentucket, as the Falcons lost 46-33 at Pentucket.?This was a great atmosphere for our girls,” Danvers coach Patrick Veilleux said. “We had to overcome a lot of adversity this year, and I am very proud of what my team accomplished this season.”The Falcons trailed tip to tail but hung around for as long as they could. Danvers was down 21-16 at the half, and 30-24 at the end of three quarters. The Falcons opened the fourth quarter on a four-minute scoring drought, which proved to be the difference in the game.?The girls played as hard as they could and we knew we were going to have our hands full with Pentucket,” Veilleux said. “We have had our struggles all season on the offensive end, and you cannot have long droughts against a team as talented as Pentucket. Our defense was able to bail us out throughout the season, but not in this one. I give Pentucket a lot of credit for how well their defense played.”Leading the way for Danvers was senior Ashley Arnoldy (7 points, 13 rebounds). Falcon Emily McNulty was in foul trouble for the majority of the game, but finished with seven points. Danvers finished the season 11-10.TRACKThe Peabody boys track team had seven members travel to Harvard on Wednesday for a USATF-sanctioned weight throw meet. The field was made up of 15 boys and one girl from Gloucester, St. John?s, Burlington and Peabody. The Tanner boys had a banner night, as all seven Peabody participants recorded new personal bests in this event. Three Tanner juniors excelled beyond personal records. Peabody junior Marcus Vieira threw 57-6 1/2, which qualified him to compete in the national championship division weight throw. Peabody junior Ariel Ayala threw 48-9 1/2, which qualified him in the Emerging Elite division weight throw at indoor nationals. Peabody junior Anthony Christo threw 45-5, which qualified him in the Weightarama at Brown University a week before the nationals. Vieira and Ayala will join Christo to compete at Brown in the Weightarama. Other Peabody participants were: Patrick Pang, freshman (36-7); Anthony Saputo, junior (34-2 1/2); John Spinale, junior (43-4) and Victor Teixeira, junior (43-9 1/2).