ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Jeylly Medrano, left, Tyarah Horton, second from right, and Priscill Alouidor, left, mob Paris Wilkey after Wilkey drew a foul with just a one second left on the clock.
By SCOT COOPER
LYNN – For the first time in 12 years, the Classical girls’ basketball team hosted, and won, a playoff game. Wednesday night’s 50-47 win over North Andover in the first round of the Division 1 North tournament was worth the wait.
The biggest difference between the Scarlet Knights and the Rams? Classical had Paris Wilkey. North Andover had no answer for the junior forward who torched them for 23 points.
Wilkey scored 12 of her team’s final 14 points, all in the fourth quarter, but it was the 12th and 13th points of the fourth quarter, the only ones not scored by Wilkey, that sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
With the score knotted up at 47-47 with 20 seconds left, Classical’s Jeylly Medrano grabbed the ball after a North Andover miss, and doing her best imitation of a Tom Brady bomb to Julian Edelman, hit Soneta Srey all alone heading towards the Classical basket. Srey put it up and in with 18.1 seconds left to give Classical back the lead 49-47.
North Andover tried to hit a three on its final possession, but missed. Wilkey snatched the rebound was fouled, and scored the final point from the line with one second left.
Srey, a senior forward who was solid under the glass all night, said the big play just happened. She saw an opening and went for it.
“I wasn’t nervous when the game was tied, I just wanted to feel like I did before the game, which was excited, so I got open and got the ball and put it in,” Srey said. “This team always has somebody step up, and if it wasn’t me, it would have been somebody else. Paris (Wilkey) put us in position to win.”
North Andover grabbed the lead twice in the game, late in the first quarter and then again in the fourth, going up 40-38 on a basket by Kelly Corrigan. The Rams didn’t panic; they took a timeout and got things organized, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 12-7 to close out the game.
Wilkey said her team came to play, and the home crowd really helped the team.
“We fought hard until the end. We had a little setback there near the end, but everybody picked it up, it was a great effort by the team,” Wilkey said. “It was great to play this game at home and win it.”
Wilkey led all scorers and was backed up Srey’s 12 points and Medrano’s 12. Irianis Delgado had eight, and Tyarah Horton contributed five.
North Andover coach Megan Ryan said her team didn’t have an answer for Wilkey once she started to post up.
“She’s very tough, she has a great inside-out game,” Ryan said. “You put a guard on her and she goes over them. You put a big on her, and she goes around them. (She’s) very tough to play against.
“We knew coming in that Lynn Classical was a very good team, loaded with talented players, and they certainly came as advertised,” Ryan said. “It’s tough to play on the road, we had to come in here and play a great game, we played well, but just missed.”
Faith Connors led North Andover with 15 points, all on three pointers.
Rams coach Tom Sawyer said getting the win at home was special.
“The kids were great tonight, I’m so happy for them that they got to play here in this atmosphere, just incredible,” Sawyer said. “We’ve got a chance to win another home game, back here in front of our crowd against Billerica, they’re a tough team, but having the game here in our gym is huge for us.”
Classical hosts No. 5 Billerica on Sunday.