FILE PHOTO
Arianna Anaya scored 11 points for Tech.
By STEVE KRAUSE
EVERETT — Lynn Tech girls basketball coach Kaitlyn Wechsler just wanted her team to represent its school with as much class and competitive spirit that it could.
Mission accomplished. The Tech girls ended up losing to Pope John by 12 points Wednesday night, 67-55. But considering the Tech Tigers were down by 28 points (63-55) after the third period, making the score respectable, regardless of who was on the court, is something she considered an accomplishment.
“I didn’t think we gave it our all in the first half,” Wechsler said. “So we talked about it at half time and decided that no matter what, we’d do that in the second half.”
The loss eliminates the Tech Tigers from the MIAA Division 4 North tournament while the Pope John Tigers go on to face Mystic Valley of Malden Saturday in the quarterfinal.
As long as Pope John twins Korine and Katherine Haidul were on the court, Tech had no answer. The two girls terrorized Tech’s girls, scoring 39 points between them (24 for Katherine).
“They’re only sophomores,” said Pope John coach Jake Feraco, “but they’ve gotten so much better than last year.”
The twins complement each other, with Katherine able to post up players down low while Korine is more of a ball-handler and a passer. But Katherine also popped two consecutive 3-pointers in the third quarter as Pope John blew the game open, showing her versatility from anywhere on the court.
“We knew they’d be a handful coming in,” Wechsler said. Believe it or not, I thought we handled them pretty good in the first half. It was the rest of the team that killed us.”
This is true. Pope John scored the first eight points and never looked back. Six of them came from one of the smallest players on the court – freshman guard Sarita Chen (who finished with 12).
Tech rallied briefly, cutting the lead to 10-6 on baskets by Alondra Sanchez and Jamila Constantine, but the Haiduls got into the swing of things, and it was never that close again.
By halftime, it was 45-18 and all over but the shouting.
But if Tech couldn’t make it all the way back from such a daunting deficit, the girls certainly gave it a try. They went down swinging. Constantine ended up with 19 points and Sanchez had 11. In addition, Sanchez, who is only a freshman, took care of much of the ball-handling and rebounding duties as well.
“We’re losing five seniors,” said Wachsler, “but I’m thankful she and Arianna (Anaya) are coming back next season. Anaya finished with 11 points, including three 3-pointers.
Pope John’s lead topped out a 67-37 early in the fourth quarter. Tech then ran off the next 18 points to close out the game and make the score respectable.
Before the season started, Wechsler said she thought her team would win 10 games and make the tournament.
“I didn’t tell them this, but I thought that was kind of a lofty goal,” she said. “But they did it. I’m awfully proud of them for that.”