St Mary’s wins Boverini Championship
Gonzalez, D’Itria lead Spartans past Lynn Classical, 62-34
The St. Mary’s High School girls basketball team once again proved to best team in Lynn, defeating Lynn Classical, 62-34, in the Walter Boverini Tournament championship game Saturday night at Lynn Tech.
Senior guard Pamela Gonzales received the tournament’s MVP Award following a 9-point, 17-rebound performance in the championship game. Gonzalez’s 17 rebounds are likely a tournament record for a guard.
Sophomore guard Nicolette D’Itria was named to the All-Tournament. D’Itria scored nine points in the final and played excellent defense.
Olivia Matela led all scorers with 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Gabby Torres had two 3-pointers and eight points. Eighth-grade guard Yirsy Queliz was very impressive with seven points, all coming in the third quarter as St. Mary’s built a 46-24 lead.
Playing an up-tempo game as Head Coach Jeff Newhall had strategized, the Spartans opened the game up in the second half and pulled away to a strong victory.
Newhall talked about his team’s effort that resulted in the program’s fifth consecutive Boverini championship.
“I think we came out with a little more energy in the second half and got the pace we wanted to and scored 21 points in the third quarter. Yirsy hit a couple of three-pointers to open it up. And Pam, I think the reason she was MVP was her 17 rebounds. We asked her to play center at both ends and she’s a versatile, unselfish player. Classical deserves credit. They played hard.”
Skyler Crayton, who played well in the two games versus Lynn English and St. Mary’s, was named to the All-Tournament Team.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my kids,” said Classical Head Coach Tom Sawyer. “They played hard to the very end, which is all we ask them to do.”
Lynn Jets capture Christmas Tourney title
The Lynn Jets put together a dominating third period to overtake Essex Tech and claim an exciting 6-5 victory in their annual Christmas Tournament at the Connery Rink in Lynn.
The Jets’ high-scoring No. 1 line of Andrew Patrie, John DiFilippo produced six goals, led by Patrie’s hat-trick performance. DiFillipo netted two goals and had three assists while Clougherty had one goal and three assists.
Goaltender Jack Gallant, who is in his second full season in net, played his best hockey over the final 25 minutes, making some key saves with the game on the line. He finished with 22 saves, aided by an excellent effort by defenseman Owen Downey.
“Jack made some unbelievable saves, especially one on the power play and another one down low that I thought was heading in to the net,” said Coach Mike Roberts. “His effort late in the second period and in the third period just shows his character and his ability to give us a chance on any night.”
Roberts also singled out Downey for his performance in the wins over Swampscott and Essex Tech.
“Owen had a great tournament,” said Roberts. “He probably logged 65-70 minutes between the two games. He’s a stalwart and we’re going to look for him on that blue line as a senior captain and to give Jack a little bit of confidence.”
The Jets trailed by a 3-1 margin early in the second period when Gallant made a spectacular save to keep the Jets’ momentum going.
“I thought that was a game-saving stop,” said Clougherty. “If we go down 4-1, it would have made it so much harder to come back.”
Clougherty scored a crucial goal in the third period. He scooped the puck from the faceoff circle and the 6-foot-5-inch senior blasted the puck past the Essex Tech goaltender.
“The goal was off the faceoff,” said Clougherty. “John tied up the opposing center, Andrew blocked the guy coming through, and I just tried to get the puck on net and hope for a rebound and it ended up finding its way in.”
Clougherty wasn’t surprised by the ferocity of his team’s comeback from 3-1 and 4-2 deficits.
“We’re a resilient group, we skate hard and give 150 percent every day,” said Clougherty. “We just get better as the game goes on. We’re just a grindy, gritty team. We had a three-year drought in this tournament, we hadn’t won it since our freshman year, and it’s good for our coach, too, to get it under his belt.”
DiFillipo called the victory “a team effort.” “Everyone is working well together and we came through at the end as a team, even though we were trailing all game,” he said. “We hadn’t won this tournament since freshman year, so it’s good to have it back. The coaches got us where we needed to be.”
Roberts said he is pleased with his team’s rally from an 0-1-1 start to the season.
“The word of the day [in a 9-7 win over Swampscott in the semifinals] was resilient and our players just keep grinding no matter what the score is or what the time of the period is,” said Roberts. “Down 4-2 [versus Essex Tech], they kept battling until the last whistle. Statistically, we really did dominate the third period and that really wore down Essex a bit.”