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Classical senior point guard Chenysse Hill led the Rams with 10 points and five rebounds against Lowell on Friday night.
By MIKE ALONGI
LOWELL — It was a tough night for the Lynn Classical offense as the No. 9 Rams girls basketball team fell to the top-ranked Lowell Red Raiders, 46-29, in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Division 1 North girls’ basketball tournament at Riddick Field House on Friday night. With the win, Lowell moves on to face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between No. 4 Revere (18-5) and No. 5 Lexington (18-5).
“I couldn’t be prouder of the girls and the effort they put forth tonight,” said Classical coach Tom Sawyer. “Lowell is the No. 1 team for a reason, and they’ve only lost two games this year for a reason. But I think we did a great job on them defensively holding them under 50 points, but our shots just weren’t going in tonight.”
Senior Chenysse Hill led the Rams in her final high school game, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Paris Wilkey had eight points and five rebounds, while junior Priscll Alouidor had five points and four rebounds. Sophomore Jeylly Medrano finished with two points and nine rebounds and junior Soneta Srey had two points and eight rebounds.
Classical fell behind early. The Rams had trouble with Lowell’s defensive rotations and gave up a lot of turnovers in the first quarter. Classical couldn’t get anything going, and after the first quarter Lowell held the lead, 14-6.
Classical managed to right the ship to a degree in the second quarter, but it was still hard to shrink the deficit. The Rams did hold a 16-9 advantage in the rebounding category, but they couldn’t turn those rebounds into points at the other end.
“We won the rebounding battle because these girls have unbelievable effort and intensity,” Sawyer said. “They refuse to let anyone outwork them. It just came down to the fact that we couldn’t make shots. We got the looks, they just didn’t go in.”
With a few minutes left in the half, Lowell hit a couple of three-pointers to stretch out the lead before the break. At halftime, Lowell still led, 21-12.
Classical had its best quarter in the third, but so did the Red Raiders. Lowell was able to stretch the lead out to as many as 15 points in the third quarter before the Rams went on a small run to close the period.
The fourth quarter was much of the same, with Lowell holding onto its double-digit lead. Eventually, the substitutes came in and the clock was run down.
Classical finishes up the season with a 15-9 record.
“It’s tough to say goodbye to three seniors, Shannon Magner, Chenysse Hill and Christina Behen, three great kids who do their job both in the classroom and on the court. I just told the underclassmen in the locker room that those three have raised the bar. They were committed to this team, and now they’re passing the torch to the underclassmen to show the same commitment and dedication so that hopefully we can get back here.”
Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @m_alongi