LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield girls basketball team may have dropped its home opener Friday night, 51-30, against Masconomet, but a loss to the Chieftains is nothing to be ashamed of for the Pioneers.
Lynnfield hung around for a majority of the night before a tough Masconomet team started to pull away in the second half. Being shorthanded without senior captain Melissa Morelli didn’t help the Pioneers either.
“We’re in the (Cape Ann League) large and we’re a Division 3 team,” Lynnfield coach Peter Bocchino said. “It’s packed with (Division) one and two teams. This is like a moral victory losing by 20. Usually we can walk out of these games down by 40 or 50.
“We were missing one of our better players, another 10-point scorer in Melissa,” Bocchino said. “But Riley Hallahan (four rebounds) stepped in and played a solid game in her absence.”
Melissa’s sister Victoria Morelli and Caroline Waisnor led the Pioneers offense with 10 points each. Catherine MacDonald (four points, four rebounds, three blocks) also had a solid game while Ava Buonfiglio added six points.
But the difference-maker on the court was Masconomet’s Makayla Graves, who scored 31 points and knocked down four of the Chieftains eight 3-pointers.
“She got too many open looks,” Bocchino said of Graves. “It was just a matter of getting to the spot in time. We got to it in the beginning but didn’t get to it in the second half.”
Lynnfield kept pace for a majority of the first half. Masconomet got on the board first but MacDonald forced a pair of rebounds and Waisnor and Morelli knocked down back-to-back baskets to give the Pioneers a 4-2 lead early on.
But that was Lynnfield’s only lead of the game. Graves responded with five straight points and converted an and-one later in the first quarter to lead Masconomet to a 13-4 lead.
The Pioneers went on a few runs in the second quarter but Masconomet matched each one. Waisnor knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to lead the Pioneers to a game-high 11 points in the frame but Masco still held onto a 25-15 lead going into the half.
“We were right there for about a good quarter,” Bocchino said. “(Masconomet) got a jump on us at the end of the first quarter with two crucial fouls that were 3-point shots. Instead of going into the locker room down by four we went in down by 10. They’ve been beating us every year by 40 or 50 points, so I think we were in it for a good two and a half quarters. Then the roof caved in.”
A handful of missed defensive assignments caught up with Lynnfield in the second half. Graves hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter to help push the Chieftains lead to 18 points.
The fourth quarter was much of the same, with Masconomet getting their lead up to as many as 21 points and the Pioneers falling to 0-2 on the young season.
Lynnfield will have 10 days off before hosting Melrose Monday, Dec. 30.
“It’s just defensive rotations right down,” Bocchino said. “Girls being tired and not letting me know in time, maybe I’ll shorten their rotations. But I think we’ll get there. This year I think we’re a better team and things will be a lot better for us. We have other teams in our league that are Division 2 teams that we’ll have better competition with.”
