LYNN — After several days off to prepare for the Walter J. Boverini Tournament, the English girls basketball team was itching to get back on the court. And it showed.
The Bulldogs got solid performances up and down the roster in a 75-15 win over Tech at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium Friday.
“The girls are just excited to play again with the way the schedule works out,” English coach Mackenzie Charles said. “We’ve had so many days in between games but I thought they were just really excited. Every girl played hard. We played defense like we were supposed to do. That’s all I can ask from them.”
Mashayla Johnson (18 points, three rebounds, six steals), Juliana Perry (11 points, five steals) and Kylia Reynoso (10 points, four rebounds, eight steals) led the way on both sides of the court.
After getting out to a big lead, the Bulldogs played their second unit for a majority of the second half with many having career games. Jaivalize Soto scored 14 points while Kelsey McNeil added eight points, each knocking down a pair of 3-pointers.
“Jaivalize played really well,” Charles said. “I think Kelsey did a really good job of being a leader of that second group, making sure we were getting good shots and having good possessions. Stacy Abrue (four points) played well too. All those girls put a lot of work in at practice so it was good to see them get on the court and show that off.”
Tech struggled against English’s defense, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Alondra Sanchez led the way with 12 points and seven rebounds.
“(English) is a very talented team,” Tigers coach Kaitlyn Wechsler said. “We talked about that before the game. English is Division 1, so we talked about just getting better with us being Division 4. It’s good for us to see that kind of talent and get better from it.
“We worked until the last quarter and until the very last second. We talked about that, just giving a complete effort the whole time. We did that so I’m proud of the team.”
The Bulldogs started the game off with four straight steals and took advantage to grab a 7-0 lead. Johnson had a big first quarter, knocking down three 3-pointers and English ended the frame with a 21-2 lead.
Sanchez helped the Tigers score seven more points before the half but English had a big quarter as well. McNeil and Jarielis Perez each hit a 3-pointer before the half and English led 44-9 going into the break.
Soto was the star of the second half, particularly the fourth quarter. The freshman forward scored 12 of her points in the final frame to cap off the win.
The Bulldogs move on to the championship where they’ll take on St. Mary’s Sunday (4). Tech plays Classical in the consolation game (1).
“It’s special,” Charles said of his Bulldogs getting to the championship. “This is an important tournament for the city. A lot of history in this tournament. Whoever we get doesn’t matter much, we’re going to go out there and compete. I think if we go out and play hard, compete and play good defense we can play with anybody. That’s the challenge.”
