Girls’ Basketball: English’s Muriel nearly has triple-double in win over Medford

Lynn English has struggled this season, but the Bulldogs pulled out a close win, 39-38, on the road in Medford on Wednesday night.
Junior Waleska Muriel (22 points, 10 steals, eight rebounds, five assists) was immense in the Bulldogs? (3-11) thrilling victory.
English entered the final quarter trailing by four points. The defense turned up the heat, led by freshman Sheyla Manon. She created plenty of havoc at the top of Medford?s 1-3-1 scheme. Muriel fouled out with 27 seconds left, before senior Nairobis Rodriguez (9 points) hit a crucial free throw to ice the win.
English coach Rachael Bradley was pleased with her team?s performance.
“I’m extremely proud of the way the girls played tonight, especially when considering we were missing two starters (Sam Holey and Taylor Sullivan),” she said. “We competed from start to finish and were rewarded for it. We came on really strong in the final period.”Marblehead 62, Saugus 28
The Sachems (1-15) struggles continued with a loss at Marblehead. Olivia Valente led Saugus with six points while Freshman Allie Kotkowski also had a good game,scoring two points with two assists, adding great defense the whole game.
?We just need to do a better job taking care of the ball,” Saugus coach Mark Schruender said.
But he found reason for encouragement.
?I was encouraged by the way we played man-to-man defense tonight,” he said. “I thought we did a good job in that department.”Lynn Classical 38, Everett 33
Classical led for most of the game, but it got close toward the end. But Jaida Santos (eight points) came up with two clutch baskets late in the fourth quarter to seal the win for the Rams.
Chenysse Hill led Classical with nine points, while Shannon Magner added eight. Heidi Milhelm had a stellar game with six points and 10 rebounds.
Classical coach Tom Sawyer was pleased with his team?s effort.
?(Everett) just flat-out beat us last time,” Sawyer said. “We really wanted to come out and get a win tonight. We had this one circled on the calendar.”Arlington Catholic 45, St. Mary?s 37
St. Mary?s (13-4) came up just short at home against Arlington Catholic. It was the second of two games on consecutive days for the Spartans, and fatigue could have played a factor.
But St. Mary?s Kayla Carter and Olivia Nazaire didn?t showmuch fatigue. Each scored 13 points. Marnelle Garraud was held to five points after scoring 16 on Tuesday night against Lowell Catholic.Essex Tech 45, Lynn Tech 28
The Tigers? (2-13) tough season continued Wednesday night with a home loss against Essex Tech. The Tigers played their first game after five consecutive days off because of the snow, and the rust showed. They started slowly and didn?t really even start to get going until the second half.
?Scoring was tough for us tonight,” Tech coach Kaitlyn Wechsler.
Jamila Constantine was the high scorer for Tech with 10 points. Lila Nieves and Aexia Martinez each contributed seven points in the losing effort.Gloucester 50, Swampscott 40
Jaymie Caponigro led Swampscott (5-9) with 15 points, while Meghan Hartman scored 10 points in the Big Blue?s loss at Gloucester.
?Give credit to Gloucester,” Swampscott coach Katelyn Leonard said. “They came out firing tonight. We just dug ourselves in too much of a hole and couldn?t climb out.”