The Everett High girls basketball team started fast and then fended off a late Saugus surge to earn a 46-42 triumph this past Friday evening on the EHS court.
The Lady Crimson Tide led at all of the quarter marks, jumping out to a 17-7 advantage in the opening frame, taking a 26-15 lead at the half, and holding a 40-31 edge after three periods. However, the visiting Lady Sachems proved to be a resilient foe and, despite trailing by seven with 1:30 to play, drew as close as two points, 44-42, in the waning seconds when a Saugus miss on a free throw resulted in a Saugus offensive rebound and three-point shot.
Saugus intentionally fouled on the ensuing Everett possession, sending Yemi Okhihan to the charity stripe with 33 seconds to play. Yemi calmly sank both free throws to make it a two-possession game and when Saugus failed to score on its next trip down the court, the Lady Crimson Tide were able to run out the clock.
“We played well throughout the game,” said EHS head coach Tammy Turner. “Saugus was a tough opponent, burt we held it together at the end.”
Savannah Spinney led Everett in the scoring column with 12 points. Okhihan reached double-figures with 11 points, followed by Talia Mirra with eight, Netta Johnson and Mimi Feble with six apiece, and Talia Riccioli with three.
The triumph was Everett’ second of the season, the first coming in the Lady Crimson Tide’s season opener, a 66-43 rout of former Greater Boston League rival Haverhill.
The key to the Everett victory was its pressure defense which created turnovers and led to easy scoring chances. Okihan turned in an outstanding performance with 21 points, including a three-pointer. Riccioli hit for 14 points and Johnson reached double figures with 10. Spinney added seven, followed by the trio of Lunica Figaro, Danielle Haley, and Feble with four points each and Alison Bowman with two.
“Our defensive pressure let us get off to a fast start and we never let up,” said Turner.
Sandwiched between those victories were losses to Marblehead and Georgetown. Early foul trouble to key players proved the common denominator in the Lady Crimson Tide’s undoing in both contests. In the Marblehead affair, Everett saw a 15-11 lead after the first period evaporate into a 39-23 deficit by halftime when Turner was forced to send some of her starters to the bench early in the second period with foul problems.
The tilt at Georgteown likewise turned from a tight contest at the half, 20-16 in Georgetown’s favor, into a 41-26 runaway by the third horn when foul trouble once again had plagued the Everett side.
The final results showed Marblehead a 72-35 victor and Georgetown prevailing, 54-46. Spinney was the lone double-figure scorer in either game, hitting for 16 against Georgetown.
“We were playing well, but the refs obviously felt we were overly-aggressive,” said Turner. “We were taken out of our game when we had to send so many of our players to the bench.”
Everett was set to host Georgetown in a rematch this past Monday and will open its Greater Boston League season next Tuesday, January 7, at Medford.
EHS hockey team edges Swampscott, 3-2
Stephen Faia scored the winning goal with three minutes to play and goalie Casarra Roderick turned aside 38 enemy shots to lead the Everett High hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Swampscott in the consolation game of the Lynn holiday hockey tournament Saturday evening.
The Crimson Tide had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the opening period on a goal by Louis Staffieri, assisted by Marc Faia and Jack McLaughlin. After Swampscott knotted the game with a marker in the middle stanza, Ray Suppa, who scored his fourth goal in three games, gave Everett a 2-1 edge early in the third frame, with assists going to Chris Durkin and Stephen Faia.
However, Swampscott continued with the game of see-saw and made it a 2-2 contest with six minutes to go. Three minutes later, Suppa sent a pass to Stephen Faia down the left wing and Stephen let go a top-shelf shot from the circle for the game-winner. Bryan Bessler also earned an assist on the goal.
“It was a nice victory,” said EHS head coach Alex Naumann, who mentioned a few individual accolades. “We received a great game in goal from Casarra, solid defensive work from Chris Durkin, and fine all-around play from our senior captain, Chris Griffin.”
The Crimson Tide dropped the tourney opener on Friday to Northeast Regional by a tight 4-3 margin. That contest likewise was a tit-for-tat battle with Everett responding to every Northeast marker save for the last, which came early in the final period, after the teams were deadlocked at 3-3 through the first two stanzas.
Suppa scored two goals and J.J. McLaughlin scored one for the Crimson Tide, who had many opportunities to get the equalizer in the final 10 minutes, but could not quite find the handle to do so.
Everett took on its former Greater Boston League rival, Revere, last Monday at Allied Veterans Rink and came out on the short end of a 5-1 decision. After a scoreless first period, some costly penalties allowed Revere to break the game open with four goals in the second period, two of which came on power plays. The teams traded markers in the final period with Suppa lighting the lamp to break the Revere shutout.
Naumann and his crew, who now stand at 3-2 on the season, are set to host Pentucket at noon on New Year’s Eve and will open their GBL season next Wednesday at Cambridge.
Track teams open season vs. Malden
The Everett High girls and boys indoor track teams opened their season last week with a meet against Malden.
On the girls’ side, Lillian White captured the 600 yard run with a clocking of 1:54.5. The Lady Crimson Tide quartet of Laurynns Joseph, Chrystel Ducheine, Sheryl Steeves, and Djenny Lorjuste also captured first place in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 5:32.6.
Lorjuste grabbed second in the 50 yard dash in 7.1 seconds and Kathy Pham likewise added three points to the EHS scoresheet with a second place performance in the high jump with a leap of 4-4.
Third pace finishers for the girls were: Elsbeth Colson in the hurdles in 8.5; Laurynns Joseph in the 300 in 46.2; and Lillian White in the 1000 in 1:54.5.
For the boys, Jonathan Pharel took first place honors in the 50 yard dash with a sprint of 5.9 seconds. Teammate Lorentz Etienne grabbed third in that event with his dash of 6.2.
In the hurdles, Stephen Carlin finished second in 7.5 seconds and Steven Garrity took third in 8.1. Felipe Andrade and Carlos Acevedo likewise went 2-3 in the 300 in 39.6 and 39.7 respectively.
Garrity took second in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-0. Felipe Andrade also turned in a second place performance with his shotput toss of 36-5. Raphen Vidal brought home a third place point in the 1000 with his time of 2:47.6.
The Everett 4 x 400 relay foursome of Acevedo, Jason Hansen, Vidal, and Eric Senibald raced to a first place finish in a time of 4:21.
“This was our first regular-season meet of the season,” said EHS head coach Shelanda Irish. “ While we were able to secure points in some events, there were more events that we weren’t able to score in which hurt us in the end. We had some of our athletes score twice for us, such as Garrity and Andrade on the boys side. As a team, we have a lot of new athletes this season which is great on both the girls and boys teams. I think as the season goes on they will definitely improve in their own individual events and with that being said, hopefully we will be able to get more points on our side.”