NORTH ANDOVER — It actually wasn’t a reasonably portrait painted by the Andover ladies on Sunday inside Merrimack School’s Lawler Enviornment, however the Warriors had been more than pleased with the outcome.
Shaking off a gradual begin and a pesky Bridgewater-Raynham group, the Golden Warriors obtained 21 factors from Kallie Martin, 13 coming within the second half, en path to a 48-39 win and a spot within the ladies ultimate of the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Traditional towards Natick.
“It’s all the time a battle towards them. Credit score to Bridgewater-Raynham. They’d a recreation plan and got here out and made it actually robust for us,” Andover coach Alan Hibino mentioned. “We had to return and make some changes and located some issues that labored.”
It was a sloppy starting for Andover because the Trojans took a 10-4 lead after one quarter. The Golden Warriors rallied to tie the sport halfway by the second earlier than B-R reopened a five-point lead.
Andover had the final salvo of the half, nonetheless. A fast 7-0 run was capped by Kiera Lenihan’s buzzer-beating layup that made it 21-19 Golden Warriors
5 straight factors by B-R’s Sydney White gave the Trojans again the lead, however when Martin accomplished a three-point play, Andover had a lead it will by no means relinquish.
Lenihan added one other buzzer beater to finish the third and cap a 14-5 run that prolonged the result in 35-29. She added two extra buckets early within the fourth to make it a seven-point recreation because the Trojans may get no nearer than 42-36 the remainder of the best way.
The opening semifinal noticed Natick’s staunch protection befuddle Pentucket many of the manner in a 56-42 Redhawks win.
After Panthers star Amelia Crowe hit a 3 to finish the primary quarter along with her group main 15-11, Pentucket would go almost the following two quarters with out hitting a subject aim as Natick stymied them at each flip.
“If any group can sustain with our stress for 32 minutes, we’ll tip our hat to them. Had been relentless. That’s our motto for this yr,” Natick coach Orix Cohen mentioned.
Even with its protection controlling the sport, the Redhawks didnt take the lead till Katie McMahon hit her lone basket of the sport as her squad led 23-22 on the break.
The third quarter would belong to Natick star Kayla Dunlap as she scored 9 of her game-high 25 factors over these eight minutes.
By the point Allie Gagnon hit Pentucket’s first subject aim in over 13 minutes, Natick had opened up a 34-25 lead and saved piling on from there.
When Williams drilled a 3 early within the fourth, it was a 34-14 Natick run that made it 45-29 and insured the Redhawks had been on their strategy to the title bout.
