RallyNorth.net

METHUEN — Central Catholic senior Katie Zenevitch fired a crisp pass inside to Melissa Miller, who turned and scored an easy basket.

Zenevitch then grabbed a defensive rebound, soon after, and chucked an outlet pass to Brianna Martin, who caught the basketball and sprinted in for an easy layup.

When Zenevitch wasn't scoring baskets herself, she was doing everything else to spark the offense.

Zenevitch scored 27 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked six shots and dished out five assists in Central's 53-38 victory over North Andover in the first round of the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tournament.

Central advances to play Pinkerton at 7 p.m. Monday in the semifinals after the Astros won their first-round game, 38-28, over Lowell.

"She definitely took advantage of her height," Miller said about the 6-foot-3 Zenevitch. "She got the ball down low and finished."

Zenevitch, a BC recruit, was playing in her first Christmas tournament game since her sophomore year. She missed last year's tournament with a broken hand.

"It was very frustrating seeing that I could help my team in areas," she said about sitting out last year. "The past couple Christmas tournaments (have been difficult). I was sick one year. Last year I was hurt."

Zenevitch scored 19 points in the first half alone while leading Central to a 28-14 halftime lead.

Meanwhile, the 6-0 Miller, who lives in North Andover, scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

"They didn't have the height advantage we have," Zenevitch said. "Melissa and I work very good together. She had good passes to me and I had good passes to her and we both finished."

North Andover coach Sue Breen said her team just lacked the size to match up well with Central.

"We need to improve on a lot but when you're playing against a kid who's going to BC and who's phenomenal, it's a tough mismatch," she said. "We don't have a kid above 5-8. I think we fought and stayed tough and you want to play good teams and that's who we played. Central is a very good team."