LYNN — The second round of the 42nd annual Elementary Basketball tournament tipped off Wednesday with a trio of games at Pickering Middle School.
The Harrington girls basketball team started the night with an impressive defensive performance in a 23-3 win over Tracy in girls Division 1.
“Defense wins games,” Harrington coach Amanda Stevens said. “I always say it and tell the girls every single practice. They work really hard. Defense is very important to us. We’re super excited. It’s our second win in the tournament and we got three more to go.”
The Hornets were led by Camilla Rufinos who scored 13 points and was impressive on both sides of the ball. Jayleen Novas added six points while Nyda Rivera scored two.
“Camilla and Jayleen were our top scorers in the first game as well,” Stevens said. “This is Camilla’s second year on the team and she’s a fabulous athlete.”
Rufinos started out of the gate with a pair of quick steals and layups to put Harrington ahead 4-0. With a few minutes remaining Rufinos netted a deep 3-pointer to extend the Hornets’ lead to 7-0.
After falling behind by 11 points Tracy got on the board after a free throw from Yulianna Flores. A few possessions later Emeralda Liranzo netted a layup to cut the Harrington lead to 11-3.
But the last few minutes of the third belonged to Rufinos. The second-year player hauled in steals on three straight Tracy possessions, scoring after each to give the Hornets a commanding 17-3 lead.
Harrington will be back on the court Thursday (4) against Ingalls.
The Lincoln Thompson girls basketball team took the court next, coming away with a narrow victory over Callahan, 23-19, in a back-and-forth game.
Dayana Hios Edwards dominated the game, scoring 21 points. Yaideliz Lozada and Jada Tejada each played well for Callahan with eight and nine points, respectively.
“We have been working on staying focused all season,” Lincoln Thompson co-coach Sarah Krasowski said. “We have a lot of strong personalities on the team. We just kind of keep up with the saying, ‘think positive and positive things will happen.’ We want them to play their hardest and keeping their heads straight.”
Both teams fought to a 4-4 tie toward the end of the first quarter. Hios Edwards blocked a Callahan shot in the final minutes and transitioned right down court for an uncontested layup to put the Tigers ahead 6-4 after one.
After trailing by four, Lozada and Tejada each netted baskets to will Callahan back into the game. Both teams were even at 15-15 before the start of the fourth quarter.
But defense made the difference for the Tigers in the final minutes. A pair of steals and two baskets from Hios Edwards plus some nice defense from Tatiana DeLeon in the final seconds helped send Callahan to the Division Championships Saturday (12:30).
The last game of the night was a 46-11 victory for the Tracy boys basketball team over Connery.
Cameron Weaver broke out for a game-high 20 points while Carmelo Weaver added 14 points. Abel Novas (five points) and Johan Tavares (four) also hit key shots.
“This is the best elementary tournament I’ve ever been apart of,” Tracy coach Justin Barrasso said. “It’s so well run and we’re happy to be apart of it. We are still taking steps to come together as a team. We felt we played well today and we played real hard.”
For Connery, Jacob Garcia had a team-high five points while Jocian Padilla scored four points.
Tracy dominated both sides of the ball early on, with Carmelo and Cameron Weaver combining for three steals and several baskets to help put Tracy ahead 13-0 after one quarter.
Connery put together a small run with baskets from Padilla and Railyn Valdez to start the second but Tracy took the game back over. Cameron Weaver hit a late 3-pointer in the first half to extend the lead to 20 and Tracy never looked back from there.
“We’re back Friday at 4:30 going against Ford who I’ve heard is fantastic,” Barrasso said. “The biggest challenge in basketball is always yourself, not the opponent. You have to do the little things well, boxing out defending and keep playing hard. We have to show some perseverance if we want to beat Ford.”