LYNN — The South squad literally ran away and hid early last night, rolling to a 69-44 win over the North in the 14th Agganis All-Star Girls Basketball Game at St. Mary’s High School. A huge advantage off the glass, coupled with pinpoint shooting and a fast break game that wouldn’t quit, helped South jump out to a 24-point lead of 41-17 at halftime.
The North gamely regrouped in the second half and went on an 11-6 run to cut the deficit to 19, 47-28, but that was as close as it came the rest of the game.
“We could see before the game that they had a big height advantage, so we wanted to get up and down the court fast and shoot the ball, and tonight most of the shots went in,” said South coach Tom Sawyer of Lynn Classical, who remains undefeated in Agganis games (3-0). “We shot the ball extremely well and really defended well. Sometimes that doesn’t happen in all-star games but you could see they really came to play both ways tonight, and that was a big key in this game.”
Classical’s Paris Wilkey led all scorers with 20 points to earn MVP honors for the South team. She drained four of the South’s nine treys.
“Paris really played a complete game tonight,” said Sawyer. “She shot the ball really well and some of her passes were unbelievable.”
Newburyport’s Krysta Padellaro scored a team-high 14 points to earn North MVP honors.
“I had no idea who she (Padellaro) was before the game, but she was really something tonight,” said North coach Adam DeBaggis of Bishop Fenwick. “I really enjoyed watching her play and was happy to meet her and coach her. She played so well that I really didn’t want to take her out at all. She is a very good player and shot the ball well, they really all shot the ball well for the most part.”
Both teams started slowly. South led by just one, 7-6, about six minutes in, but went on a 24-0 run over the next 14 minutes to pull out to a 31-6 lead with about 5:40 to play in the half. Bishop Fenwick’s Jennie Meagher (three points) temporarily stopped the bleeding with a free throw on the North’s next possession.
South came out shooting in the second half and took its largest lead of the game (26 points) at 47-21 after Wilkey drained a 3-pointer with about 20 minutes to play.
After a basket by Essex Tech’s Carly D’Orlando and a free throw by Padellaro, Fenwick’s Courtney Norton drained a trey to get the deficit under 20, 47-28, but it was too little, too late.
“I don’t know, maybe they were rusty and also were not used to playing with each other, but I was happy with their effort and we had some fun tonight in spite of the score,” said DeBaggis.
Classical’s Irianis Delgado had a big first half with 11 points and finished with 15, while Wakefield’s Hannah Dziadyk hit four threes and finished with 13.
For the North, Yasmeen Guerrier of Everett tossed in eight points and Katie Kirsch of Central Catholic had seven.
