RallyNorth.net

Tue, Mar 04, 2008 07:00 PM @ Neutral Location

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Division 2 North - Semi-Finals
Masconomet	6	11	10	11	38
Lincoln/Sudbury	15	6	12	10	43

Masco girls basketball upset in semifinals

Tuesday, March, 04 By Jean DePlacido
Staff writer

LOWELL | First came the rain, soaking through the roof at the Lowell High School gymnasium and forcing last night's Division 2 North semifinal girls basketball game to be stopped on three separate occasions.

But while the rain outside continued to pelt down all night, the reign of the Masconomet girls basketball team ended inside.

The top-ranked Chieftains saw their season come to an end against the very same team that had knocked them out of last year's playoffs: Lincoln-Sudbury. Despite a wild Masconomet comeback in the fourth quarter, its bid came up just short, falling 43-38.

"Obviously, it's very disappointing. It was such a great season," said Masco head coach Bob Romeo, whose team saw its season end at 20-2.

"There are no losers tonight; just one winner. I told our girls it's not really the destination that matters, but the journey."

Trailing by 10 points (33-23) entering the fourth quarter, the Chieftains played some of their best basketball of the night to slice into the Warriors' lead. In fact, they held fourth-ranked Lincoln-Sudbury without a point for more than six-and-a-half minutes, scoring nine points of their own to cut the deficit to one.

When Masconomet superstar Caroline Stewart (14 points) drained two free throws with just under five minutes remaining, L-S held a tenuous 33-32 advantage. The Chieftains then appeared to take the lead when Krissy DiBenedetto drilled a 3-pointer, but her team was called for a 3-second violation, negating the bucket.

"That was the only (3-second violation) of the game that was called. It took all of our momentum away," said Romeo. "If that had counted, it would have changed the momentum of the game completely."

Lincoln-Sudbury (20-3), the defending Division 2 state champions who also beat Masco in last year's North semis (49-46), fed off of that Masco turnover as Sarah Wetmore (game-high 22 points) made a hoop to restore her team's lead to three.

But Masconomet kept fighting back. Despite a Jaime White steal that was negated when a foul was called (thus fouling out White), the Chieftains would not quit. Kim Talbot hit a shot with 48 seconds left to make it a 3-point game again (41-38), and Chieftains teammate Annie Burns (10 points) stole the ensuing inbounds pass.

But despite having three shots at the hoop in the final minute, the Chieftains could not score another point. Wetmore iced the game with two free throws with one second to play.

For the game, Lincoln-Sudbury hit 19-of-23 shots from the charity stripe, while Masco made just 3-of-7.

"Free throws had been a problem for us all season," said L-S coach Liza Feldman. "So we worked hard tonight on getting rebounds and concentrating at the line.

"We were glad to see Masconomet in this round, because you have to play the best teams to get to where you ultimately want to be."

Wetmore, who Feldman figured averaged between 11-12 points per game in the regular season, scored 24 in the Warriors' postseason opener against Danvers and has dropped in 22 the past two games.

"She's such a great player," Romeo said of Wetmore. "Every time I looked up, she was doing something to hurt us." The game was delayed by 15 minutes prior to tapoff to fix a spot in the roof where it was leaking near one of the baskets. That same spot needed attention just 51 seconds into the second half, and then another leak caused a 25-minute delay with 5:02 to play in the third quarter. "There was no flow to the game because of the delays," said Romeo. "It was a very strange game for both teams."