PHOTO BY CONNER GRANT
Revere’s Maritza Scott goes in for a layup against Lexington.
By MATT FRASER
REVERE — The No. 4 Revere girls basketball team took the old adage “It’s not how you start, but how you finish” to new lengths Saturday evening in a 64-45, come-from-behind victory over No. 5 Lexington in the quarterfinals of the Division 1 North tournament.
In what was a tale of two halves, the Patriots erased a 13-point halftime deficit (32-19) with an inspirational effort over the final 16 minutes, outscoring the Minutewomen by a 45-13 margin.
“We knew (at the end of the first half) that we were going to come out and play much better,” said coach Diana Finn, whose team had no early answer for Anna Kelly (game-high 32 points), who scored 12 points apiece in the first two quarters, including the 2,000th of an illustrious career which will continue at Division 1 Fordham University.
“Kelly (7 rebounds, 3 steals) is one of the very best I’ve seen play in Massachusetts,” said Finn. “I knew that the girls would come back; I didn’t know if we would win or not but our defense really locked in (on Kelly). At halftime, we told them that it was time to become a great team and I think they took a big step towards that tonight.”
Pamela Gonzalez (team-high 27 points) and fellow sophomore Valentina Pepic (19 points) combined for 35 points over the final two periods, including 11 apiece in the fourth quarter, helping the hosts pull away by the 5:04 mark when their lead hit double-digits at 50-40.
Pepic would tally nine consecutive points (including 3-of-4 free throws) from that moment until the final minute of regulation when Gonzalez tacked on a three-point play for good measure.
“I couldn’t be more proud of an individual player,” said Finn of Pepic (game-high 11 rebounds). “She has worked so hard all year long. It was heartbreaking seeing her miss a few shots in the first half that she typically hits with her eyes shut. She’s on her way to becoming a great player. We tend to focus a lot on our inside game which, in turn, opens up our outside game, but we couldn’t do either early on.”
Gonzalez led the way with nine points through the first two quarters. Junior Meaghan Gotham (5) and sophomore Tatianna Iacoviello (3) chipped in on the scoring for Revere.
The second half started with a bang, in the form of a three-point shot from senior Ally Hinojosa, her first and only basket of the game. Fellow senior Maritza Scott made her presence as well, netting all six of her points in a short span, cutting the visitors’ lead to three.
Shortly thereafter, Pepic converted a pair of free throws before giving the Patriots their first lead (39-38) since the 3:35 mark of the opening period. Gonzalez would score from underneath with five seconds remaining, giving the hosts a 41-38 lead after three complete.
“We’ve lost some tight ones this season so it was nice to see that kind of experience pay off,” said Kelly, whose team advances to play top-seeded Lowell in the semifinals on Tuesday at Whittier Tech in Haverhill (7).
“We probably match up a little bit better with (Lowell) than we did with (Lexington) but we certainly have our work cut out for us again,” said Finn.