PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Classical coach Tom Sawyer coaches his team through a drill in practice.
By STEVE KRAUSE
The Lynn Classical girls’ basketball team will have some holes to fill. But coach Tom Sawyer considers himself fortunate that he has players ready to fill them.
Last year, the Rams won 14 games and made it to the second round of the Division 1 North sectionals before losing to top-seeded Lowell.
Gone from that team is Chenysse Hill, who is now playing at Plymouth State. Sawyer acknowledged that is a big loss.
“From a basketball standpoint, that’s a lot of minutes to replace,” he said. “The good news is we have lots of eager young student-athletes who are willing to take on the challenge.”
Central among them is senior guard Priscilla Alouidor, a sixth man last season. This year, she’ll be in the starting five.
“We’ll look for her to provide a lot of energy on the court,” he said. “She is very athletic, and very aggressive, and we’re going to look for her provide a spark and set the tone defensively for us with her aggressiveness.”
The bulk of the team, however, is young. There are five juniors returning: Paris Wilkey, Jeylly Medrano, Tyarah Horton, Nakyla Ramsay and Maryah Chandler.
Wilkey was all-conference last year as a sophomore forward, but Sawyer said, “we will need her to play even better than she did last year — not just scoring points, but in all aspects, defense, rebounding, assists and leadership. We’re going to need it all from her.”
Medrano played 2-guard last year, and is expected to be the team’s point guard this season, Sawyer said.
“We’ll need her to take care of the ball, score points, and play good defense, and generally just make sure the entire team executes what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively.”
Horton, a forward, “is a tough kid and good rebounder,” Sawyer said. “She’s undersized for a forward, but she makes up for it in tenacity and toughness. We’re going to need her to rebound for us, and play good defense — and score some points for us.”
Sawyer hopes to see something out of sophomore Olivia Pedro, who came up at the end of last season from junior varsity when injuries hit the Rams.
“She worked on her game all spring and summer on the AAU Thundercats. She’s going to be given an opportunity to help this year.”
Sawyer says he has “about six or seven” other players who are trying out, “but I don’t know which ones are going to step up and help. They’re all sophomores. We have a couple of weeks to figure it all out.”
Classical Hall of Famer Helen Ridley will assist Sawyer on the bench.
“She is a tremendous asset to the program,” he said. “As coaches, we just want to work with the kids and help them achieve to the best of their abilities. Both of us strive to do that. And when you’re playing with a lot of sophomores and juniors it takes time. The good thing about Classical kids is their willingness to listen and to learn.”
Classical opens Tuesday, Dec. 13, against Everett in what will be the last non-league game between the two schools. Next fall, the Greater Boston League and Northeastern Conference will merge into one league.
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].