One day after beating Gloucester 46-23 for the Pioneers’ first win of the season, the Lynnfield girls basketball team (2-4) followed it up Friday morning with an impressive victory against Shawsheen Valley Technical School 46-31.
The Pioneers were led by star guard Isabella George (14 points) and Taylor Valiton (12 points). From up and down the roster, Lynnfield played unselfish basketball.
“Confidence-wise, I think they’re feeling like they can do this if they work together,” Lynnfield head coach Susan Breen said.
After a strong first, the Pioneers led 15-6 early in the second quarter. An adjustment to a zone defense from Shawsheen stalled the Pioneers’ offense, allowing the Rams to go on a 9-2 run.
“When they [Rams] got to the 2-3 zone, it took us a little while to figure [it] out,” Breen said.
Returning from halftime, Lynnfield came out on fire. The Pioneers scored on their first five possessions to extend their lead to 14. In a sophomore-led play, one highlight included Valiton grabbing an offensive rebound and finding Erika Pasquale (eight points) for an easy layup.
Breen credited her talented sophomores for getting extra possessions and sharing the ball.
“There was some nice interior passing between the sophomores [Valiton and Pasquale],” Breen said.
During the fourth quarter, despite Lynnfield having just six players available, the Pioneers constantly hustled for extra possessions and showed urgency. The additional possessions Pasquale, Valiton, and Jaelynn Moon (six points) fought for allowed the Pioneers to control the flow of the game and fend off Shawsheen attacks.
“We got a bunch of offensive rebounds and that’s going to make a big difference. I think they were smart [down the stretch] using the ball,” Breen said.
The clock ran out on Shawsheen and the final score read 46-31 in favor of the host Pioneers. After the win against Gloucester, Breen said she enjoyed her team’s “balanced scoring.” Friday morning, it was more of the same as four different players scored six or more points.
Playing together, and for each other, is exactly what the Pioneers did and the results have shown the past few days. The Pioneers lost their first three games by single digits, and after starting 0-4, Lynnfield now stands at 2-4.
The Pioneers take the hardwood again on Friday, Jan. 6 at Pentucket High with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m.
Lynnfield’s points leaders:
George (14 points)
Valiton (12 points)
Pasquale (eight points)
Moon (six points)
Margaret Ozanian (four points)
Ava Gamache (two points)
Mark Aboyoun can be reached at [email protected]
