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Andover, Central set up title collision

Tuesday, December, 27 By Jeff Hamrick

NORTH ANDOVER — When the girls’ brackets came out for the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tournament, it might have been easy to extrapolate a possible championship game between the top two programs in the area.

Last night, two-time defending state champion Andover and Central Catholic easily finished off the second preliminary round and set up just that scenario.

Andover, which will be chasing its third consecutive tourney title, knocked off tournament host North Andover 53-38 while the young Raiders defeated Lowell 71-42. Tomorrow’s 7 p.m. title match will be the first of two meetings between the Merrimack Valley Conference rivals in a span of seven days.

“Every opportunity we have to play them we want to come out and show them that we’re strong competitors,” said Central junior Casey McLaughlin, who scored 12 of her 15 points during the second quarter against Lowell. “We always want to win. It’s our biggest game and everyone is always ready for it.”

The Raiders (4-0) were more than ready last night for Lowell, which dropped a 55-46 decision to the Raiders in the second game of the season. It was Amanda Williams who ignited Central with her rebounding — particularly on the offensive end. The 6-foot sophomore converted six offensive rebounds into 10 points in the first quarter as Central jumped to a 19-7 lead.

Williams finished with a game-high 22 points and 16 rebounds, including 10 offensive.

“I just go get it,” Williams said about her glass work. “They always just seem to come to me anyway, so it takes a lot of the guessing away. They come to me and I just grab them.”

Taking a 41-17 lead into the third quarter, Williams, one of four sophomores in the starting lineup, removed any thought Lowell might have had of a rally by scoring eight points during a 9-4 run as Central opened a 29-point lead midway through the third.

“We are very, very young,” said Central coach Sue Downer, who tomorrow will welcome back returning senior starter Alex Borrelli who sprained an ankle before the season began. “Amanda, who had a terrific gamea today, is an example of a kid that worked hard in the offseason ... and it’s very evident in the way she’s playing right now.”

ANDOVER SURVIVES

In yesterday’s opening semifinal, the Golden Warriors were pressed a bit harder than they were in the quarterfinals when the starters were forced to play only five minutes in a 33-point victory over Lawrence. In fact, North Andover trailed by just two with about two minutes remaining in the opening half.

“It was an ugly game,” Andover coach Jim Tildsley said. “(North Andover) makes you play ugly. (Knights coach) Sue (Breen) does a great job with them. They’re a very good defensive team. We couldn’t get into our running game. And you have to credit the North Andover defense for that.”

Despite turning over the ball on each of its first five possessions and attempting only 13 field goals the opening half, the Scarlet Knights (1-3) hung tough with defensive pressure that forced the Warriors into scoring droughts of 4:34 and another stretch of almost three minutes. Although Nicole Boudreau scored 19 of her game-high 23 points before intermission, Pam Coufos made her work for all seven of her field goals which came via 19 attempts.

While Coufos was handling the defensive end, freshman Leah Chittick kept the Knights close with six first-half points.

“It was definitely not the best basketball we’re capable of playing,” Boudreau said. “We had a couple bad stretches in there where we couldn’t score at all. All in all we played an alright game, but there’s certainly room for improvement.”

It was more of the same in the second half during which Andover scored only three more points than the hosts. But each time North Andover threatened, the Warriors would take off on a run of its own to hold off the Knights.
“Overall, we did a pretty good job,” North Andover coach Sue Breen said. “I think our defense overall was pretty good. We made them work.”

And now it’s Central’s chance to make the two-time defending champs work.

“It’s always fun playing Central,” Tildsley said. “I know they love to play us, and we love to play them.”