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Hornets face tall task against Cohasset

Tuesday, March, 11 By Nick Curcuru
Correspondent

This is what the Manchester Essex girls basketball team has worked for all season.

There are no more meetings, no more practices. It all comes down to one game.

That would be today's Division 4 state championship, where the North champion Hornets (16-8) face off against South champion Cohasset (22-2) at Boston's TD Banknorth Garden (2:30 p.m.) for the Division 4 state title.

Manchester Essex comes into today's showdown riding high after their dramatic 59-56 overtime win over Mt. Alvernia last Friday night.

"We're very excited, but the focus is still there," Hornets freshman guard Lizzy Ball said as the Hornets went through final preparations at practice yesterday afternoon. "It's been tough to focus during school, and the days were going by very slow. I can't wait to play the game."

While the Hornets are thrilled to be playing at the mecca of New England hoops, they want to treat the game like it were any other | a task that often difficult to fulfill.

"We want to treat this like another game," said senior captain and center Dani Ciccone, who has registered a double-double in each of the four tourney wins for the Hornets. "But we also want to take a moment and appreciate what we've done. None of us have been this far before, and the school hasn't seen a team go this far (since 2001)."

Hornets head coach Lauren Dubois of Beverly thinks that nerves will play a factor early on in the game, but she is not worried about it impacting the outcome of the game.

"I think both teams will be nervous off the bat. It's natural to be nervous in this type of game," Dubois said. "But we will settle in pretty quickly and play our game." Cohasset will be a tall task for the Hornets | literally. The Skippers (22-2) are led by sisters Tori and Sammi Lehr, who stand 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-1. respectively. The Lehrs have powered the Skippers to the title game with wins over Bishop Connolly (50-41), West Bridgewater (55-31), Nantucket (52-32) and, in the South title game, Millis (42-30).

"(Cohasset) has a strong inside game with a lot of height," Dubois said. "They also press more than other teams we faced. But the big court at the Garden might make it tougher to execute a full-court press."

The Hornets, who have been able to have their way inside the paint for the majority of the tournament thanks to the 6-foot Ciccone, plan to go right after the tall sisters.

"We want to post up the two sisters and work our inside game," said Manchester's Elsa Keefe, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's win over Mt. Alvernia. "Defensively we need to prevent them from making passes inside. They are tough in the post."

The Hornets play a much faster-paced game than their counterparts, averaging 62 points in their four tournament wins. The Skippers have averaged 50.

They are powered by the inside-outside combination of Ciccone (10.3 ppg) and Ball (9.8 ppg). The duo have picked up their scoring in the postseason averaging 17.5 ppg and 15.7 ppg respectively.

When the opposing defense collapses on the two, players such as Keefe, Jordan Biggar, Jen Bishop and Sam Christopher are there to pick them up.

"We need to play our game at our speed," Ball said. "We can't get into their game, if we play at our level we will be fine."

Ciccone agreed that the Hornets need to stick with the formula that got them there. The same formula that led to tournament wins over Lynn Tech (53-43), New Mission (67-61), Fenway (69-46) and the overtime win over Mt. Alvernia.

"We have to play with speed and good help defense, the same type of game we have been playing all season," Ciccone said. "If we do that we will win."