Lynn girls hoop teams put it all on the line today

LOWELL – Two Lynn girls basketball teams will put their seasons on the line today at the Tsongas Center in Lowell in Massachuseetts sectional championship games.At 10:30 a.m., St. Mary’s will try to win its second Division 3 North Sectional championship in four years when the Spartans face Winthrop.The Spartans will rely heavily on their three seniors, all of whom saw significant playing time as freshmen, the last time the team won a state title.Central among them is Brianna Rudolph, who is coming off a 36-point performance in St. Mary’s sectional semifinal win over Bishop Fenwick. The other two are Jennie Mucciarone and point guard Sharell Sanders.The Spartans already defeated the Vikings once this season — in the finals of the Spartan Classic late last month at St. Mary’s Conigliaro Gym.English will take the court at 6 p.m. to face Central Catholic in the Division 1 North semifinal. This is the first time the Bulldogs have made it this far under coach Fred Hogan (who, while an assistant with the Tech boys, won the Division 3 North title three times).Like St. Mary’s, the Bulldogs have a troika of senior stalwarts who have been groomed for this moment as freshmen. One is Diondra Woumn, whose 21 points led English in its sectional semifinal win over Woburn. She also scored her 1,000th career point last Saturday against Billerica.Catherine Stinson, also a career 1,000-point scorer, and Deidra Newson round out the trio.Central has two guards who will play Division 2 college ball next year: Courtney Walsh (Stonehill) and Caitlin Dell’Orfano (Southern New Hampshire).Their best player, though, is 6-0 footer Amanda Williams, who has been posting double-doubles all season.Williams is headed to play volleyball at St. Anselm.Most everyone in Raiders’ starting lineup can step up and score. However, the Raiders had a tough time shaking Masconomet Wednesday night in the sectional semifinal, and also had their hands full in their first tournament game last Saturday night against Peabody.English fell to Central the last time the teams played in the tournament in 2009.