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ANDOVER — Winning ugly is better than losing pretty.

Though admittedly not its best effort of the season, the Andover Golden Warriors persevered through a tough night shooting in the first half to advance past the Highlanders of Somerville in the Div. 1 North quarterfinals 56-41.

Accurate outside shooting boosted Andover to the St. Mary's of Lynn Tournament crown, defeating Westford Academy, 64-50, in the title tilt. Tourney MVP Natalie Gomez-Martinez connected on five 3-points on route to a game-high 25 points along with five assists. Freshman Nicole Boudreau made the all-tourney team, hitting on six 3's to finish with 20 points and five rebounds for the Golden Warriors (17-4).

Accurate outside shooting boosted Andover to the St. Mary's of Lynn Tournament crown, defeating Westford Academy, 64-50, in the title tilt. Tourney MVP Natalie Gomez-Martinez connected on five 3-points on route to a game-high 25 points along with five assists. Freshman Nicole Boudreau made the all-tourney team, hitting on six 3's to finish with 20 points and five rebounds for the Golden Warriors (17-4).

Shannon Cooney hustled for three offensive rebounds in the final seconds and the last proved to be the biggest of all.  

Trailing by one with under 20 seconds to play, the Golden Warriors could not get a shot to fall until Marissa Cataldo knocked down a left-wing 3-pointer wtih nine seconds left, vaulting Andover into a two-point lead, which it held on to in a 63-61 win over host Lynn English at the Spartan Tourney.

Billerica had no answer for Natalie Gomez-Martinez in Andover's 62-38 victory. The sophomore guard filled the stat sheet with a game-high 18 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. 3-point machine Nicole Boudreau was held trey-less, but still reached double digits with 10 points.

Andover couldn't match Notre Dame of Hingham's intensity and hustle, watching a five-point first quarter lead melt away in a 69-51 non-league setback on the road. Freshman Nicole Boudreau had another amazing outside shooting night, draining seven 3-pointers on route to a 21-point effort for the Golden Warriors (14-4).

Andover girls basketball fought hard, but came up just short in a 49-47 loss to rival Lowell. 

Nicole Boudreau (17 points) drilled a 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to cut what was a five-point Raiders lead to two. Then, after Lowell missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with nine seconds left, the Golden Warriors missed a shot at the buzzer. 

LAWRENCE — Andover girls basketball coach Jim Tildsley made eye contact with Pat Cooney and asked a rhetorical question.

“How good was she?”

How good was Cooney’s daughter Shannon during the Golden Warriors’ 61-54 win over Central Catholic?

Natalie Gomez dropped a game-high 25 points to lead Andover on a giant second-half surge in a 64-44 win over Notre Dame. The Warriors trailed be two at the half before out-scoring Notre Dame by 18 points in the third quarter. Gomez also chipped in with eight rebounds, six assists and five steals. Alex Alois, who spotted 11 points, finished with 13 rebounds for a double-double.

Natalie Gomez-Martinez hit a game-high four 3-pointers as the Andover girls basketball defeated Methuen, 79-64. In addition to her game-high 28 points, Gomez finished with 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Nicole Boudreau dropped 17 points on the Rangers to go alone with nine rebounds, six assists and five steals.