ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Yazmarie Carcamo, left, of Lincoln-Thomson tries to keep Lauren Wilson of Pickering from stealing the ball during Saturday’s game.
LYNN — The Lynn Elementary Tournament concluded Saturday at Pickering Middle School with the four annual All Star games in which the city’s best players competed against each other in a East-West format.
Both games were as close as some of the ones in previous seasons.
Up first, the East Lynn girls squad, coached by Sisson’s Mary Hunt and Shoemaker’s Lisa Moriarty clashed with the West Lynn girls, coached by Lincoln-Thomson’s Sarah Krasowski and Drewicz’s Kelly Morris.
East Lynn dominated the first half behind 10 points from two-time All Star, Ahjeanee Hyacinthe, who also captured this year’s Around the World Competition trophy earlier in the day. She finished with a game-high 14 for the East.
West Lynn mounted a comeback in the second half fueled by superior rebounding from Yazmarie Carcamo (4), Gabriella Willis (4) and Linda Jallow (7).
Hannah Beaulieu of Lincoln-Thomson scored the tying and winning baskets late in the game for West Lynn to ensure a 29-27 victory. Jomary Lora, this year’s free throw champion, led West Lynn with eight points. East Lynn’s Jaeleigh Perry, Brooke Moloney, Rachel Dana and two-time all-star Kaleigh Bullock were also among the scorers for the East.
In the second game of the day, decided by just two points, the East Lynn boys, coached by Brickett’s Donna Whalen and Ford’s Jessica Forgione took on the West Lynn team, coached by Sewell-Anderson’s Angela Maggs and Lincoln-Thomson’s Gerry Beliveau.
To add to the drama, Maggs was coaching against an East Lynn squad that had both her son and nephew on it.
The balance of the East Lynn team (11 different players scored and the high intensity of West Lynn proved to be a formula that created one of the best games since the tournament started. The West took a slim one-point lead into the break and lead seesawed back and forth numerous times throughout the second half.
Led by Brayden Lunden’s 15 points, West Lynn was able to tie the score at 48 with under a minute to play. Division 1 high scorers Joel Maggs (2017 Free Throw Champion) and Mitchell Purter (this year’s 3-point champ) were held in check by the West’s stifling defense for most of the game. Much of the slack was picked up by Kyle Bradley Kemembin (13 points) who iced both of his free throws with 8.4 seconds left. A missed one-and-one and an off- the-mark attempt at the buzzer sealed the 50-48 victory for East Lynn.
Yael Vizcaino had seven and Lester Ileh and Brooklyn Barros Beltre, six apiece for the East. West Lynn’s Dahrien Bernabel had 11, Almani Medina seven and Darron Guillen four for the West.
