Down-to-the-wire thriller goes Lexington’s way, 54-52
Published February 26, 2021
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High girls’ varsity basketball team finished their season in the consolation round of the Middlesex League playoffs in a heartbreaking 54-52 loss against Lexington in a down-to-the-wire thriller at Lexington High. Melrose has reached the end of the road and now graduate six seniors this spring. Topping the ML tournament was undefeated Burlington who beat Arlington on Feb. 22.
Melrose senior captain Adriana Centrella finished her career on a high note, leading Melrose in scoring with 16 points, while sister (and fellow captain) Sofia Centrella had nine points and sophomore Meghan Casey scored 7 in an impressive starting debut.
It was Melrose’s most competitive game of the year and proved a barn burner as Melrose had tied it up, 52-52 with less than twenty seconds to go in the game. But a quick layup put Lexington up 54-52, giving Melrose possession and 14 seconds to score. A Melrose offensive foul turned the ball over and effectively ended their season in a loss.
Coach Bill Hirschfeld’s Melrose team started off strong and took a solid 15-8 lead at the end of the first thanks to back to back baskets by Gia Vlajkovic and a hot Adriana Centrella, who scored 7 points behind a three pointer and a steal for a layup that gave Melrose a comfortable lead. Jenna Champagne and Meghan Casey got on board for Melrose and Sofia Centrella went 2-2 on the foul line to help Melrose maintain a 25-21 lead at the half.
Unfortunately, Lexington found their footing in the second half and tied it up 27-27 then chipped away at Melrose and took a lead of 39-32 at the end of three.
Melrose’s Meghan Casey and Sofia Centrella came up big in the last quarter. Centrella knocked in two straight baskets to keep Melrose down by two at 50-48 in the later minutes of the game. But Melrose fouled and sent their rivals twice to the line and soon faced a deficit of 52-49. But a cool handed Adriana Centrella hit a three for Melrose with just twenty seconds left to make it a 52-52 game.
Lexington responded quickly when Lexington’s Maddie Aggoures drove the ball for a clean layup. That gave Melrose back to the ball with a chance to tie it up 54-52. With fourteen seconds to go and Melrose driving to the basket, a questionable offensive foul (illegal screen) turned the ball over to Lexington and effectively ended the game with Melrose taking the loss, 54-52.
It was a final swan song for their outgoing seniors, captains Adriana Centrella, Sofia Centrella and Megan Fogarty and seniors Kira Maté, Jenna Champagne and Chloe Orcutt. They are a group who no doubt would have liked to see more wins over their last season, but were surely glad for the opportunity to play during COVID-19.
Returning next season are juniors Ella Brennan, Ava Burns and sophomores Chloe Gentile, Gia Vlajkovic, Megan Casey, Lily Kavanaugh and Sofia Smith.
