LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield girls basketball team struggled on both sides of the ball Friday night, falling to Cape Ann League foe Pentucket 48-30 at home. The Pioneers struggled on the offensive end the whole night, and lapses on defense spelled doom in the long run.
“We just made too many mistakes out there,” said Lynnfield assistant coach Jessica Ricupero. “We got exposed on the weak side defensively a lot, and we got killed on the glass. When we did have opportunities to score, we just couldn’t knock them in. It was a tough game all around.”
Victoria Morelli led the way for Lynnfield, notching 10 points and eight rebounds. Melissa Morelli added seven points and three rebounds, while Cate MacDonald had six points and eight rebounds. Ava Buonfiglio scored four points and Caroline Waisnor netted three points and five rebounds.
Turnovers and poor shot selection hurt Lynnfield in the opening minutes, allowing Pentucket to jump out to a 7-0 lead. Bocchino called a timeout to reset things, and the Pioneers came out a little stronger to close the quarter. Behind six straight points from Victoria Morelli, Lynnfield cut the deficit to 8-6 after one.
But the Pioneers continued to struggle in the early part of the second quarter, as Pentucket continued to find holes in Lynnfield’s 3-2 zone defense.
“We got hurt on the back side a lot, they kept finding the open man and getting clean looks,” said Ricupero. “We did a good job at times, but (Pentucket) hit a lot of shots from three tonight and that hurt us.”
The Sachems pushed their lead up to 11 points at 18-7, but then Lynnfield began to right the ship. Behind some good defense from Grace Klonsky and some solid shooting from Buonfiglio and Melissa Morelli, the Pioneers went on a 10-4 run to close the half and only trailed 22-17.
The second half started off on a more positive note for Lynnfield, as the Pioneers got to within three points in the opening minutes of the third quarter. But then Pentucket got hot from the field, getting big shots from Angelina Yacubacci and Angelica Hurley to stretch the lead back out to double digits. When the dust settled at the end of the third quarter, Pentucket led 34-23.
The Sachems stretched that lead out to 13 points in the fourth quarter before Lynnfield went on a small run to get to within six points. But the Pioneers simply didn’t have enough firepower on this night, as missed opportunities led to rebounds and points on the other end for Pentucket.
Lynnfield (3-5) is back in action Monday afternoon (3) at Triton.
“The girls came out and played hard, but it just wasn’t our night,” said Ricupero. “The effort is there, it’s just the execution that needs work. We’ll be ready to go on Monday.”