LYNN — The Classical girls basketball team needs to pile up wins to chase a state tournament bid and the Rams weren’t going to let cross-town rival English get in the way, fending off the Bulldogs to earn a 35-32 home win Friday night.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Tom Sawyer said. “It’s no secret we’re fighting for our tournament life so anytime you can get a win to get a little bit closer is big. English put it on us, beat us by 18 when we played over there, so to come back in our home gym, I’m proud of the kids.”
Amber Crayton had a huge game for the Rams with a game-high 13 points, nine rebounds and six steals. Jean Gupton-Morrison (11 points, six rebounds, three steals) wasn’t far behind. Ava Thurman added six points while Kiara Edmonds hauled in seven rebounds.
“Amber just plays so hard,” Sawyer said. “She gives you everything that she has. She’s an undersized forward but you wouldn’t know it because she’s got a big heart.”
Kylia Reynoso (10 points, four rebounds) and Mashayla Johnson (six points, seven rebounds, four steals) led the Bulldogs.
While this one was frustrating for the Bulldogs, coach Mackenzie Charles gave all the credit to Classical.
“It was bad basketball,” Charles said. “We didn’t play with the effort we needed to win the game. I give all the credit to Classical. They played extremely hard. They played harder and smarter than we did. They deserved the win.”
A steal and basket from Gupton-Morrison and a layup by Crayton put Classical ahead 4-2 early and the Rams carried a slim lead all the way through the rest of a back-and-forth first half.
Four-straight points from Crayton stretched the lead to seven but Juliana Perry’s and-one cut the lead to four in the second. The Rams had plenty of chances at the free throw line to bump up their lead the rest of the half, but couldn’t capitalize, edging out the Bulldogs 16-13 before the break.
English tied things up to start the third but Classical went on a 9-0 run from there, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Thurman to go ahead 25-16.
The Rams got that lead up to as many as nine in the fourth before the Bulldogs started to claw back. A pair of threes in the fourth from Reynoso helped cut the lead down to three in the final minutes. But where Classical struggled at the free throw line in the first half, they rose to the occasion to squeak out the 35-32 win.
“Overall we did not shoot well from the foul line (Friday) but in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line we were 8-for-14,” Sawyer said. “We were a little bit better in the fourth than we were for the whole game. That’s when the pressure amps up a bit so credit to the kids who stepped up there and knocked them down. That’s not easy to do.”
The Rams (8-9) need two wins in their last three games to qualify for the state tournament, starting with a home game against Danvers Thursday (7).
“Certainly they feel good now, but when practice starts (Saturday) at 9:30 we’ll have the same girls we have every Saturday,” Sawyer said. “I’m not sure any momentum will carry over to next Thursday. We have to get prepared and we have to execute. If we do that we give ourselves a chance.”
English (12-4) hosts Salem Monday (7).
