LYNN — Defense was the name of the game in Wednesday’s Northeastern Conference clash between the Classical and English girls basketball teams.
On a night were baskets were few and far between, the Bulldogs did just enough for a much-needed 27-26 win over the Rams at Paul Cavanagh Field House.
The victory is English coach Mackenzie Charles’ first win over Classical in his three-year tenure guiding the Bulldogs.
“It feels like we got that monkey off our back,” Charles said. “We’ve been wanting that. This is my third season and to not beat Classical, as competitive as I am, to get that monkey off our back is really good. We’ll take that.
“I give Classical a lot of credit,” Charles said. “They played hard defense and they stayed in the game all the way through. They always believed they were going to win the game. We learned something from them.”
English, 9-9 with the victory, remains alive in the hunt for a state tournament berth. The Bulldogs need a win at Medford Thursday night (7) in order to qualify.
“Medford’s well coached,” Charles said. “They had some athletes on their JV team last year and it seems like they’re up and playing. I haven’t watched a lot of film, I’ve been focused on Classical. But I know they’re well coached and they’re going to play hard. They’re not going to give it to us, we have to come out and take it.”
English’s Maylin Echevarria scored a game-high 11 points. Kylia Reynoso scored six and Stacy Abreu added four.
Classical’s Jazzmine Masse and Rebecca Walker scored seven points each.
“When it’s 27-26 it’s a shot-making game,” Classical coach Tom Sawyer said. “You just have to make a few. But not for a lack of effort. The kids played really hard defensively. We did everything we wanted to do defensively. We gave ourselves a shot to win and we had a shot to win at the end. These kids don’t quit. They battle until the end.”
The Bulldogs held Classical to just four points in the first quarter and carried an 18-6 lead midway through the second quarter, after back-to-back baskets from Echevarria and Juliana Perry. Classical ended the half on a 6-0 run and trailed 18-12 at halftime.
“English’s really good defensively,” Sawyer said. “You have to hit a few shots to kind of loosen that defense up a little bit. We just weren’t able to do that and we had too many turnovers. Give English credit, they played really good defense. Give my kids credit, we played really good defense too.”
English carried a 22-18 lead into the fourth quarter and things went down to the wire. Echevarria opened the final period with a 3-pointer, giving her Bulldogs a 25-18 lead with 5:50 to play. Walker answered with a 3-pointer, slicing English’s lead to 25-21 with 4:12 remaining.
Ahead 27-23 with the clock winding down, the Bulldogs were on the verge of sealing the deal.
Showing no quit, Classical made things interesting. Masse stole an inbounds pass, hit a layup, drew a foul and swished her free throw to make it a one-point game, 27-26, with seven seconds to go. But the Bulldogs held down the fort in the closing seconds for the victory.
“The girls finished,” Charles said. “They made some mistakes but they’re young. They made some young mistakes but they finished. Our first quarter helped us. When we can get a lead, the other team’s playing catch-up.
“We’ll take the win,” Charles said. “It’s a good win for our program.”
Classical (11-8) will celebrate its annual senior night Thursday (7) when the Rams host Everett.