RallyNorth.net

Fri, Feb 01, 2008 07:00 PM @ Gloucester

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Winthrop	15	24	22	12	73
Gloucester	11	9	15	12	47

Lady Vikings send Gloucester to humbling defeat, 73-47

Riding a five-game winning streak coming into last night, the Gloucester girls basketball team had a chance to see how they stacked up against one of the premier teams in Eastern Mass.

By the end of the night the Fishermen found out that Winthrop is every bit as good as their 12-1 record would suggest, as Gloucester fell to the Vikings, 73-47, on its home court.

The loss was by no means detrimental to the Fishermen, who are still 9-5 on the season and remain in very good shape to make the state tournament. However, it was obvious that a team as talented as Winthrop can present problems for the young Fishermen.

"We didn't play bad, that's a very good team we faced," said Gloucester head coach Jon Flanagan. "We had a lapse there in the second half where we didn't play with the type of confidence I would expect us to come out with."

Winthrop's star junior guard Courtney Finn, who recently earned her 1000th career point, took the game over in the second quarter. Finn posted a 16-point frame to give the Vikings a commanding 39-20 halftime advantage, which set the tone for the remainder of the contest. She finished with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds.

The Fishermen only trailed 15-11 after the first quarter, but the combination of Finn's play and Gloucester star freshman Hannah Cain (6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals) picking up her third foul presented an uphill battle for the hosts in the second quarter. Winthrop junior forward Katerina Mallios took over in the third quarter, scoring 15 of her 21 points in the frame. Lady Vikings senior point guard Nicole Giaquinto (18 points) was the other standout as Winthrop only had five players score. Senior forward Kristin Finn (5 points, 10 rebounds) was in foul trouble all night and wasn't a big factor. Gloucester senior point guard Jill Lukegord (20 points) played well in defeat, scoring 14 in the second half as she tried to rally her team. Fishermen junior guard Lindsey Rogers (12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) was another bright spot. Winthrop outscored Gloucester, 22-15 in the third to put it away before both teams scored 12 in the fourth.

"I'm OK with the last 16 minutes, we played as hard as we can," acknowledged Flanagan. "We changed between a man defense and zone. They did a good job isolating players, they pass the ball very well and are all aggressive which makes it difficult to defend. They've got some legitimate scorers out there."

Gloucester will next host Saugus on Tuesday and the Fishermen will look to clinch a tournament berth that night. For now, Flanagan wants his team to move on after this humbling defeat.

"We have practice at 9 a.m. (today). By quarter of nine when we're stretching, our expectation is everyone is getting ready for practice and have moved on from the Winthrop game."

Gloucester will have a rematch at Winthrop on Tuesday, January 19 for its regular season finale.