School Roundup: KIPP’S Huffman simply brilliant in tough loss

KIPP Academy’s Alex Huffman strung together the kind of eye-popping stat line Saturday afternoon against St. Andrew?s in Barrington (RI) that makes believing the Panthers came away on the wrong side of a 59-55 decision hard to believe.
The senior point guard scored 30 points to go along with 13 rebounds, seven assists and as many steals.
?She’s been the best player on the court in every game this season,” said KIPP coach Nat Jones of Huffman, who had only two turnovers. “The girl she matched up with tonight has a Division 1 skill-set but (Huffman) had no trouble scoring.”
Senior center Marie Kamba (9 points) finished four of five from the field while Huffman’s heir-apparent, Nayeli Germosen, hit a pair of three-pointers.
The Panthers were ahead for the majority of what proved a tight game from start to finish, grabbing a 23-21 at halftime. A six-point lead with seven minutes to go preceded a strong finish from the hosts who had a distinctive size advantage, according to Jones.
?We really had no answer for their length down the stretch. This was St. Andrew’s top varsity team we played against today so our girls didn’t walk away with their heads down,” he said.
WRESTLING
Pioneers three-peat at Cohasset
Lynnfield?s wrestling team won for the third time in as many years at the nine-team tournament, accumulating 167 points to outpace Hanover (141) and Ti-County (131).
The Pioneers (13-2 in dual meets) boasted champions in Joe Morse (113), Jake Mullin-Bernstein (132), Lucas Pascucci (138) and Brandon Troisi (285) as well as runners-up in Max Whyman (126) and Dominic Monzione (145). Will Glover (106) and Kai Jean-Simon (120) added third place finishes.
Young Sachems hang tough at Super Quad
The Saugus wrestling team came away empty-handed from a victory standpoint (0-4), but had a number of solid individual performances against a field consisting of Everett, Georgetown, Tyngsboro and tournament-host, Gloucester.
Seth Roy (160) finished the day with a 3-1 mark to improve his overall record to 13-2 while fellow captain, Luke Surette (220), finished 2-1 for a season’s mark of 10-1. Mike Titus (106) picked up three wins while Nick Marshall (195) added two victories.
SWIMMING
St. Mary’s 85, Matignon 85
In a rare draw, the host Spartans (2-2-1) got two individual wins from sophomore Eve Smith in the 100-yard backstroke (1:09.34) and 200-yard individual medley (2:27.54) as well as senior Erik Whitcomb in the 50-yard freestyle (26.65) and 100-yard freestyle (1:04.66).
The pair teamed with seventh-graded Gabi Marchesse and freshman Danny Rodriguez to win both the 200-yard medley (2:17.64) and 200-yard freestyle (1:56.30) relays. Marchesse added a solo victory in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:29.78.
Fenwick 88, Williams 69
The Crusaders placed first in all 11 events, including two individual wins from captain Carson Christuk in the 100-meter butterfly (53.03) and 100-meter breaststroke (1:01.13) and Connor Christuk, in the 200-yard individual medley (2:20.41) and 100-yard freestyle (55.53).
Both brothers, along with Garrett Collins and Rowan Emerson, combined for a North Sectional qualifying 1:52.44 in the 200-yard individual medley relay. It will be the first time in over 20 years that a Fenwick (4-0) relay team participates at the event.Emily Somnambulist added wins in the 200-yard freestyle (2:11.75) and 500-yard freestyle (5:58.56) while Sarah Long prevailed in the 50-yard freestyle (28.50) and 100-yard backstroke (1:13.16).