RallyNorth.net

Viselli nets 17 in Pentucket victory

Sunday, January, 16 By Mike Grenier
Staff writer

WEST NEWBURY —  For the fifth time in the past six meetings, Pentucket handled Masconomet yesterday and this time it wasn’t even close as the Sachems put together perhaps their best defensive effort of the season in a 50-33 blowout.
The win kept Pentucket’s (7-1) Cape Ann League title hopes alive.
This contest was a much different one from the Christmas tourney matchup at Masco less than a month ago, when Pentucket barely held on for a 61-60 win.
The Sachems were in complete command yesterday, grabbing a 16-9 lead in the opening quarter, stretching it to 29-15 at halftime and an insurmountable 41-19 after three quarters.
“They’re on top of the mountain in our league,” Masconomet coach Bob Romeo said about Pentucket. “They’ve been on top for a few years now. We thought we might get that mountain back today, but it didn’t happen.”
Sophomore Coley Viselli poured in 17 points for Pentucket and sophomore Alex Moore added 10 points. Pentucket also owned the glass, with Vanessa Cahill pulling down 17 rebounds and five points. Sophomore Tess Nogueira had 10 rebounds and seven points.
“We were coming off one of our worst games in the last four or five years,” said Pentucket coach John McNamara, referring to a 38-31 loss to North Andover. “We also hadn’t played in quite a while (nine days), so we had plenty of time to prepare. We practiced defense for about two weeks.”
It paid off. Tess Nogueira was often the primary defender on Masconomet standout junior Brooke Stewart, who would draw double and triple teams when she touched the ball. Stewart (5 for 11 from the floor) passed the ball quickly enough, but Masco still couldn’t create mismatches or a numbers advantage because Pentucket’s defenders rotated quickly enough to cover the gaps.
“Stewart may be the best player in the state, averaging 26 points or whatever it is, and we weren’t about to let her beat us,” said McNamara. “The last time we played them (when Stewart scored 24), she was flying around the court and still getting the ball to her teammates. This time we weren’t going to let her do that. We wanted the ball out of her hands and her teammates were going to have to beat us.”
The Chieftains were a miserable 5 for 17 from the foul line.
“We obviously didn’t play well, but I have to say that John (McNamara) does a great job of preparing his team for every opponent,” said Romeo, whose team was held to its lowest point total this season. “They did a really good job on Brooke and we didn’t make them pay when they double teamed her. For them, I thought Viselli had a great game and Moore killed us in the second quarter.”