LYNNFIELD ― The Lynnfield girls basketball team went into the halftime break with the lead on Tuesday evening, but the Pioneers went cold on the offensive side of the ball in the second half and fell to Hamilton-Wenham by a score of 42-34 in a Cape Ann League matchup at Lynnfield High School.
“The girls came out and played hard on both ends, but Hamilton-Wenham is a good team with a lot of experience,” said Lynnfield coach Susan Breen, who is in her first season at the helm. “We really competed well on the defensive side of the ball and our rebounding was solid, but we just couldn’t get any shots to go down in that second half.”
Senior Abby Adamo led the offensive attack for Lynnfield with 11 points, while junior Isabella George had filled the stat sheet with eight points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Senior Lucy Cleary had five points and six rebounds, while freshman Taylor Valiton (four points, five rebounds), sophomore Ava Gamache (four points, two rebounds) and junior Maragret Ozanian (two points, six rebounds) also contributed for Lynnfield.
Lynnfield got off to a solid start in this one, using its defensive intensity to notch a couple steals and turn those into points for an early 7-4 lead. But Hamilton-Wenham rallied right back, taking the lead at 8-7 before going into the end of the first quarter with an 11-9 lead.
The second quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with the two sides trading the lead six different times. Eventually it was Lynnfield that got the upper hand, as George scored the final four points of the quarter to give the pioneers a 23-21 lead at the halftime break.
But that’s where things stopped going Lynnfield’s way.
In the third quarter, Hamilton-Wenham got hot from the field and jumped out to a 31-26 lead. The Generals never relinquished it from there, stretching that lead to as many as nine points in the fourth quarter before Lynnfield mounted a small rally.
The Pioneers got as close as to within four points in the fourth quarter, but they could never quite put together a consistent enough attack on offense to close the gap entirely. After a couple of key rebounds and a few free throws by the generals, Hamilton-Wenham walked away with the win.
Lynnfield (0-1) plays on the road at Newburyport Friday (6:30).
“We have a young team and we don’t have that many bodies out there, so we’re just going to keep working and keep trying to get better everyday,” said Breen. “We’ve got another tough test Friday against Newburyport, so we know we’re going to have to bring our best.”