Girls Basketball: Spartans cruise past Matignon

St. Mary?s had no trouble Monday night against Matignon on its way to a dominating 68-29 win. After jumping out to a 16-point lead by halftime, the Spartans kept their foot on the gas pedal and outscored Matignon, 38-15, in the second half. The win improves St. Mary?s to 9-3 on the season.
The Spartans got a big night from Gianna Moschella, who finished with 13 points. Olivia Nazaire added 11 points and Temi Falayi had 10. Kayla Carter rounded out the high
?This was a great overall team effort,” said St. Mary?s assistant coach Jim Foley. “It was great to bounce back after a tough loss.”
The loss to which Foley referred was the 64-38 setback the Spartans suffered last week to Archbishop Williams. But there was another reason the Spartans wanted to win so badly. Their coach, Jeff Newhall, and his wife Christine welcomed twins into the world on Monday.
?They really wanted to win one for coach Newhall tonight,” Foley said.
Greater Lawrence 54, Lynn Tech 38
The Tigers? tough season continued, with a loss to Greater Lawrence, dropping Tech to 1-12 for the season. But, there were some positives in the game, Tigers? coach Kaitlyn Wechsler said.
?I thought we played a good game, actually,” she said. “We really turned it on after the half, but it was just too much of a deficit to come back from.”
After falling behind early, the Tigers employed a full-court press to try to shake things up. They also got the ball inside to Jamila Constantine, who did a good job down low and drew some fouls. It worked well and Tech was able to close the deficit to 10 points, but that was as close as the Tigers got.
Constantine finished the game with 14 points to lead the Tigers in scoring. Lila Nieves had 11 points. Yafreisis Ruiz, Brianna Brangman and Malvelis Hernandez were strong on the defensive side.
Hamilton-Wenham 46, Lynnfield 43 (OT)
After falling behind early, the Pioneers rallied back to force overtime but were unable to close the deal in the end. The loss drops Lynnfield to 6-5 on the season.
Pioneers? coach Bob Melillo wasn?t pleased with his team?s performance.
?We didn?t play well in the first half and fell behind,” he said. “The kids did a nice job fighting back but it just wasn?t enough tonight.”
Toni DiCesare led the way in scoring for the Pioneers, finishing with 16 points. Emma Mancini chipped in seven points as well. Marie Norwood had a big night on the boards with 13 rebounds and added five points as well.
Revere 53, Medford 39
It was a big day for Tiphani Harris and Maritza Scott as they led the Patriots to a 14-point victory on the road. The Patriots came out aggressively on defense and employed a full-court press for much of the game.
For Revere coach Diana DiCristoforo, that was the difference in the game.
?Once we picked it up on the defensive end we were able to pull away,” she said.Harris did a great job from the field as well as from the foul line. She finished with 18 points to lead all scorers. Scott was also able to cash in from the free-throw line when called upon, finishing with 13 points. Adanna Hector contributed 11 points to the winning effort. The win improves the Patriots to 8-1 on the season.