Pioneers travel to North Reading on Friday night
Published in the January 31, 2018 edition
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
LYNNFIELD — The LHS girls’ basketball team traveled to Ipswich on Tuesday, Jan. 23 to take on the Tigers in an inter-division CAL matchup. It was a back-and-forth game featuring tough defense from both squads but the Pioneers came through in the clutch on a buzzer-beating bucket from senior co-captain Mackenzie O’Neill.
Up 35-34 with the ball, Ipswich inbounded under the Lynnfield basket with just seconds to play when the Pioneers forced a turnover and converted on the ensuing inbounds play, as the team ran a screen to set up O’Neill who found herself open under the hoop. The captain put the layup in for a one-point win.
“Both teams went on their runs,” said Lynnfield head coach Jim Perry. “It was a nice win overall, especially on the road.”
The Tigers were up six with just a couple minutes to play, but Lynnfield stuck with it, turned up the defense and got to the free throw line. Perry credited some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch as the reason for the comeback.
Leading the way on the scoreboard for the Pioneers was sophomore Victoria Morelli who finished with 16 points. Co-captain Liz Shaievitz scored 12 as the two players accounted for 28 of Lynnfield’s 36 points. O’Neill (4 pts.) and freshman Caroline Waisnor (4 pts.) accounted for the rest of the scoring for the Pioneers.
Lynnfield continues to acclimate to the CAL’s large division as they swapped places with Hamilton-Wenham this year. On Friday, the Pioneers were defeated by a powerhouse Masco team for the 2nd time in a week.
“It’s tough with some of these large teams,” said Perry. “We’re holding our own, and we played most of the stronger schools earlier in our schedule so we have some winnable games coming up.”
The Pioneers (2-10) hosted Manchester-Essex (7-6) on Tuesday after press time and are off to North Reading (9-3) to meet their rivals on Friday night at 7 p.m.
