LYNNFIELD — It’s always nice to get a win on Senior Night, but the visiting Triton girls basketball team had other ideas, riding a hot hand in the third quarter to pull away in a 54-41 final at Lynnfield High.
Triton (7-3) took its largest lead, 51-31, about a minute into the fourth quarter. But over the next six minutes, the Pioneers (4-5) caught fire and went on an 11-0 run to climb to within striking distance at 51-41 with about two minutes to go after a bucket by senior captain Ava Gamache (4 points).
Unfortunately, that was as close as Lynnfield came in this one.
“Triton has five seniors who are really strong and their No. 22 (Kendall Liebert, 22 points) is the best player in the league,” said Lynnfield coach Sue Breen. “I give our kids credit for working hard. We just needed to finish more and our defense needed to get better. Tonight, we were just losing people defensively.”
Junior captain Taylor Valiton had a massive night with a double-double. She scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds, nine off the offensive glass. Her freshman sister, Hayden Valiton, wasn’t too shabby either, finishing with nine points, nine rebounds, three blocks and a steal. Junior Emma Rose went 8-for-11 at the free throw line to finish with eight points and three rebounds. Junior Erika Pasquale (4 points, 4 boards) and freshman Maeve Wertz (4 boards) also contributed.
Lynnfield’s next game is against Amesbury at home Tuesday night.
“They are always pretty good,” Breen said. “I don’t know too much about them as we haven’t played them, so I have to work on that this week.”
Prior to the game, Lynnfield’s seniors, Gamache and Addie Connelly, were honored.
