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METHUEN — Despite averaging 18.6 points, sophomore Nicole Boudreau wasn’t too pleased with the way she shot the ball in Andover’s first three games. “I’ve been working on my shot a lot,” she said. “I know I’ve been off the first couple of games and haven’t been shooting the best I could. It felt good coming out of the hand. It just never seemed to drop. So I’ve been in the gym working on my shot and today I just felt it.” Boudreau definitely looked like she felt it against Salem yesterday in the first round of the Greater Lawrence Girls Christmas Tournament. She scored 11 points during a 14-1 run to start the game. Boudreau scored 13 points in the first quarter and had 21 for the contest. She helped Andover wallop Salem 73-34 to secure a spot in the semifinals Monday against Methuen. Andover beat the Rangers 75-42 last Thursday. “Salem is aggressive and we knew we had to match their intensity,” Boudreau said. “To come out strong in the first five minutes is what our goal has been. I think that gets us off to a good start and demoralizes the other team.” Boudreau poured in four 3-pointers. “We self-destructed,” Blue Devils coach Liz Briggs said. “Turnovers, boxing out, following shots, hustling, calling transition defense — stuff we can control we did not control tonight.” Andover coach Jim Tildsley said: “That’s the best we’ve played all year on our pressure defense. They just couldn’t get it (up the court).” “We played them already but Rashidat (Agboola) didn’t play a lot in the first half because she was in foul trouble,” said Andover senior Alex Alois, who netted nine points against Salem. “So I’m looking forward to playing her again. I think it will be more challenging with her in the game and I’m excited.” Tildsley added, “Plus, we’re playing on their court, too. So we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Andover 73, Salem 34 Salem (34): Raye 1-0-2, Galvin 3-0-6, Connors 1-2-4, Bujnowski 2-1-5, Vaudreuil 1-0-2, White 3-5-11, Rodriguez 2-0-4, Righini 0-0-0, Forrest 0-0-0. Totals: 13-8-34. Andover (73): Fazio 2-1-6, Gomez-Martinez 4-0-8, Caveney 3-3-11, Scarpa 1-0-3, Biles 3-0-7, J. Alois 1-0-2, Boudreau 7-3-21, A. Alois 4-1-9, Drivas 1-0-2, Bill 1-2-4, McDonald 0-0-0, Maturah 0-0-0, Beasley 0-0-0. Totals: 27-10-73 3-pointers: A — Fazio, Caveney 2, Scarpa. Biles, Boudreau 4 Andover (4-0):    22 8 23 20 — 73 Salem (2-2):     7 7  8 12 — 34

WORCESTER— Andover is the state champion and it made winning the title look easy yesterday.  Sophomore star Nicole Boudreau missed a 3-pointer in the first quarter but Dianna Bill was there to collect the rebound and toss the basketball back to Boudreau who caught it in the same spot and fired up another attempt, which swished in for 3 points. Seconds later, the Andover pressure defense caused East Longmeadow to throw the ball out of bounds. And moments after that, Ally Fazio netted yet another Andover 3-pointer.   The sequence of events was very reminiscent of how the first half went: Andover scored a barrage of 3-pointers and dominated while East Longmeadow struggled to do anything on offense and defense.  The Golden Warriors cruised to a 73-37 victory to win the Division 1 title at the DCU Center.  When the final buzzer sounded, all the players rushed to center court where they celebrated by hugging and falling down to the floor. “I think we played a perfect game,” Boudreau said. “We rebounded. We played defense. We pushed it. We made shots. We knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Well, hopefully not for us now. But it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we didn’t want to slip through our hands.” It was Andover’s first girls basketball championship since 2003. Coach Jim Tildsley challenged his two top players — Boudreau and Natalie Gomez-Martinez — during practice Thursday.  He told them that they both had played their worst games of the year in a semifinal victory over Mansfield on Tuesday.  “We both agreed with him,” Boudreau said. “We both weren’t happy with our performances against Mansfield. We really didn’t come out to play. It really got us and we wanted to come out here and show everyone that we are the best team in the state.” Gomez-Martinez added: “It just gets me pumped when he says that because I work just that much harder.” Both Boudreau and Gomez-Martinez responded well. Gomez-Martinez poured in a game-high 25 points. Boudreau netted 18, including hitting four 3-pointers. “I tell it like I see it,” Tildsley said. “I said, ‘Now, the two superstars need to step up and they both had great games today. The whole team today was phenomenal.” Gomez-Martinez and Boudreau shined in the first quarter, combining for 14 points to help Andover jump out to a 24-5 lead after one period. Andover netted four 3s in the first quarter, eight in the first half and 12 for the game.  “We live and die by the 3 and today we lived by it,” Boudreau said. Gomez-Martinez, hit one of those 3s in the first quarter and then showed her athleticism with time winding down in that period when she scored a jump shot and then made a steal shortly after and sprinted in for the layup. Gomez-Martinez said she has been hungry for a championship ever since losing in the title game in 2008. She was a freshman that year and the starting point guard. “When I was a young girl I was always thinking about it (winning a state title) but I think when I wanted it the most was freshman year and we lost,” she said. “I think that’s when I was like,  ‘I’m coming back here sophomore, junior and senior year to win it.” As for Boudreau, she said she has been dreaming about winning a title since the third grade when she was in the stands and watched the 2003 Andover team do it. “Since I saw that happen, I wanted one for myself,” she said. Ally Fazio added 12 points by hitting four 3-pointers. Two came in the first quarter.  “Ally’s last three games, every game she got better,” Tildsley said. “It was such a key to have her at the beginning of the game hit those 3s, you could just see it in her face. She had that confidence. She lost it during the middle of the year but she got it back just when we needed it."  Fazio added about winning: "It's the best feeling in the world. Honestly, it is. It's just great. ... I think as a team we matured and took the pressure well."  

WORCESTER— Andover is the state champion and it made winning the title look easy yesterday. 

Sophomore star Nicole Boudreau missed a 3-pointer in the first quarter but Dianna Bill was there to collect the rebound and toss the basketball back to Boudreau who caught it in the same spot and fired up another attempt, which swished in for 3 points. Seconds later, the Andover pressure defense caused East Longmeadow to throw the ball out of bounds. And moments after that, Ally Fazio netted yet another Andover 3-pointer.  

The sequence of events was very reminiscent of how the first half went: Andover scored a barrage of 3-pointers and dominated while East Longmeadow struggled to do anything on offense and defense. 

The Golden Warriors cruised to a 73-37 victory to win the Division 1 title at the DCU Center. 

When the final buzzer sounded, all the players rushed to center court where they celebrated by hugging and falling down to the floor.

“I think we played a perfect game,” Boudreau said. “We rebounded. We played defense. We pushed it. We made shots. We knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Well, hopefully not for us now. But it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we didn’t want to slip through our hands.”

It was Andover’s first girls basketball championship since 2003.

Coach Jim Tildsley challenged his two top players — Boudreau and Natalie Gomez-Martinez — during practice Thursday. 

He told them that they both had played their worst games of the year in a semifinal victory over Mansfield on Tuesday. 

“We both agreed with him,” Boudreau said. “We both weren’t happy with our performances against Mansfield. We really didn’t come out to play. It really got us and we wanted to come out here and show everyone that we are the best team in the state.”

Gomez-Martinez added: “It just gets me pumped when he says that because I work just that much harder.”

Both Boudreau and Gomez-Martinez responded well. Gomez-Martinez poured in a game-high 25 points. Boudreau netted 18, including hitting four 3-pointers.

“I tell it like I see it,” Tildsley said. “I said, ‘Now, the two superstars need to step up and they both had great games today. The whole team today was phenomenal.”

Gomez-Martinez and Boudreau shined in the first quarter, combining for 14 points to help Andover jump out to a 24-5 lead after one period.

Andover netted four 3s in the first quarter, eight in the first half and 12 for the game. 

“We live and die by the 3 and today we lived by it,” Boudreau said.

Gomez-Martinez, hit one of those 3s in the first quarter and then showed her athleticism with time winding down in that period when she scored a jump shot and then made a steal shortly after and sprinted in for the layup.

Gomez-Martinez said she has been hungry for a championship ever since losing in the title game in 2008. She was a freshman that year and the starting point guard.

“When I was a young girl I was always thinking about it (winning a state title) but I think when I wanted it the most was freshman year and we lost,” she said. “I think that’s when I was like,  ‘I’m coming back here sophomore, junior and senior year to win it.”

As for Boudreau, she said she has been dreaming about winning a title since the third grade when she was in the stands and watched the 2003 Andover team do it.

“Since I saw that happen, I wanted one for myself,” she said.

Ally Fazio added 12 points by hitting four 3-pointers. Two came in the first quarter. 

“Ally’s last three games, every game she got better,” Tildsley said. “It was such a key to have her at the beginning of the game hit those 3s, you could just see it in her face. She had that confidence. She lost it during the middle of the year but she got it back just when we needed it." 

Fazio added about winning: "It's the best feeling in the world. Honestly, it is. It's just great. ... I think as a team we matured and took the pressure well."  

WORCESTER — The similarities were uncanny.
At least at the start.
On the road to the Division 3 state championship game, both Eastern Mass. champion Pentucket and Western Mass. titlist Lee depended on athleticism, using the entire court and defending baseline to baseline — making every possession a 30-second battle.
But yesterday morning at DCU Center, the Sachems couldn’t spread the floor, couldn’t get cutters enough open space, and, save for a short stretch of the second quarter, couldn’t make enough baskets.
It added up to a 56-42 Lee win as the Wildcats (24-1), who are arguably the most dominant program in the state, earned their seventh state title since the modern state title format was adopted in 1975.
Despite seeing center Julia Warner sent to the bench in the first half with four fouls, Lee started winning the little battles. The press break came a little easier, point guard Tara Dooley made Pentucket stagnate offensively, and junior Alex Young (career game with 20 points, 19 rebounds) was the best rebounding guard the Sachems have seen this season or probably any season.
The Wildcats shook off a second-quarter, six-point deficit and scrapped their way a 56-42 victory that brought the Sachems’ ice-breaking run out of the TD Garden to a disappointing end.
“We knew we had to play well to win,” said Pentucket head coach John McNamara, “but we didn’t shoot well (12 for 66 overall, 4 for 26 from 3-point range), we didn’t shoot free throws well (14 for 24 compared to Lee’s 23 for 29) and we didn’t box out well.”
Young grabbed 12 of her 19 rebounds in the second half, six from the offensive glass. She also scored 11 of her game-high 20 points during this stretch and took any shot at precious momentum away from the Sachems (26-1).
“We worked on that all year,” Lee head coach Gary Wellington said. “We look to find an open zone and have a girl step through it. We wanted to stay active away from the ball and that helped (yesterday).”
Both teams suffered through massive bouts of nervousness to start, suffering a combined 21 first-quarter turnovers while Lee had already committed seven fouls.
Surviving the tough start, Pentucket pulled itself together behind point guard Erin McNamara as the senior banked in a nifty left-handed layup, sank two free throws, then kicked the ball to Sarah Higgins (eight points) and Ashley Viselli (team-high 19 points with 16 rebounds) for 3-pointers off clean looks. In three minutes, the locals went from down four to six up, 27-21, bringing over 1,000 green-clad fans to their feet. Pentucket finished with a 28-24 edge at the break.
“At halftime, I thought we were doing OK,” said the Sachem coach. “We were winning even though we played poorly. But they’re a good team and you’ve got to play well against good teams.”
It all changed in the second half. After a third quarter slugfest dominated by Viselli and Young featuring five lead changes, Lee started taking advantage of its opportunities.
The Wildcats hit 15 of 19 free throws over the final nine minutes while holding Pentucket to 2-for-20 shooting in the fourth. When leading scorer McNamara, who was held to four points, went to the bench with 50 seconds left with five fouls, the Wildcats’ hard battle was won.
“We’ve played team defense that way all year,” Wellington concluded. “We’ve boxed out, got second shots ... Pentucket played great defense but our kids wanted it more.”
“We never got into a flow,” Coach McNamara concluded. “We missed some shots early, and if we knocked them down like we did in the second quarter, it could have changed things a bit.
“But give all the credit to Lee for playing that style. We kind of figured they would, and we’ve seen teams do that to us, but we responded better then than we did (yesterday).”


Lee 56, Pentucket 42
Division 3 state final
at DCU Center, Worcester
Lee (56): Alex Young 7 6-7 20, Katie Eckert 3 6-9 15, Tara Dooley 3 3-5 9, Stephanie Young 2 4-4 8, Julia Warner 0 4-4 4, Casey Gaul 0 0-0 0, Megan Gaul 0 0-0 0, Eileen Dooley 0 0-0 0, Camryn Biasin 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 23-29 56
Pentucket (42): Ashley Viselli 6 5-6 19, Sarah Higgins 3 1-2 8, Coley Viselli 1 2-2 5, Erin McNamara 1 2-3 4, Holly Jakobsons 0 4-4 4, Tess Nogueira 1 0-3 2, Emily Lane 0 0-0 0, Vanessa Cahill 0 0-4 0, Lauren Iola 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Nogueira 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 14-24 42
3-pointers: L — Eckert 3; P — A. Viselli 2, C. Viselli, Higgins
Pentucket (26-1):    10 18  8  6 — 42
Lee (24-1):    13 11 15 17 — 56

Pinkerton got off to a fast start in the fourth quarter by breaking the Winnacunnet press with a nice outlet pass to AJ Guidi who then passed off to Allie Ucich who scored a layup to tie the game. The Pinkerton crowd went wild and the Astros appeared to have gained some serious momentum. But then Winnacunnet star and Boston College bound Tiffany Ruffin took control of the game. The senior scored on three jump shots over the next 2 minutes, 14 seconds to help lead her team on a 8-0 run. From there, Winnacunnet held on and won 46-41 to claim its fourth straight Class L title. “I think we stayed composed and we didn’t let it get to us but it probably got to us a little bit,” Pinkerton senior Laura Pierce said about the Winnacunnet 8-0 run. “Everything about her (Ruffin makes her difficult to defend). You play her so she doesn’t go to the hoop, then she steps back and hits a 3.” Ruffin scored a game-high 19 points, going 7 of 10 from the field. She also had four assists, four rebounds and two steals. “Tiffany Ruffin is a go-to girl,” Guidi said. “She’s the girl you want to go to for dribble penetration and the quick shot coming off the screen. She’s a great player. Really hard to defend.” Pinkerton shot only 35.3 percent (18 for 51) from the field and just 13.6 percent (3 for 22) from 3-point range. The Astros also struggled from the free throw line, going just 2 for 7. “Three for 22 is a little bit bad from the 3-point line,” Guidi said. “But we’ve had those nights. We had them against Winnacunnet in the first half the first time we played them. We got a little more dribble penetration this time, which helped us stay in the game.” Guidi led Pinkerton with 12 points but went 0 for 7 from 3-point range. Pierce scored 9 points and collected six rebounds. Pinkerton turned the ball over just 12 times but had difficulty bringing it up against the press, especially at the end of the game when it needed to take quick shots to get back in the game.
“They have great pressure,” Katherine Harris said. “I thought we did a good job of maintaining out composure. We didn’t have that many turnovers. We managed to get it up most of the time. But the pressure is difficult, definitely.”

BOSTON — Andover’s Devon Caveney knew her job yesterday was to shot the basketball after seeing that Mansfield was heavily guarding the two top shooters on her team in a Division 1 state semifinal contest.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — The state Final Four is a good time to show off a tough defense. But for Pinkerton, it was just more of the same stellar work it has displayed the final month.

The second-seeded Astros advanced to their third title game in the 41-year history of the tourney, dominating third-seeded Londonderry 60-39 last night at the Southern New Hampshire University Fieldhouse.

BOSTON — “You can’t stop her! You can’t stop her!”

The Pentucket student section chanted this after senior Erin McNamara snuck past a pair of Archbishop Williams defenders and scored a lay-up with 26 seconds left in the first half of the Division 3 state semifinal contest yesterday at the TD Garden.

Phillips Academy lost 49-34 to Tabor Academy in the New England Prep school Class A championship despite 13 points from 6-foot-4 sophomore center Alex Kiss-Rusk. 

BOSTON — Erin McNamara hopes that the third time is the charm for Pentucket. Yesterday, the senior guard led the way with 21 points as the Sachems advanced to their Eastern Mass. final in four years, disposing of Bishop Fenwick 58-47 in the Division 3 North final at Emmanuel College. The Sachems advance to Tuesday’s state semifinal game at the TD Garden (4:15 p.m.) against Archbishop Williams, the team that beat Pentucket in the 2007 and 2008 EMass. title games. “We hope it will be different this time around,” said McNamara, who was near perfect from beyond the arc (4 for 5). “We know that they’re a tough team. It’s great to have one last shot at them as a senior, we wouldn’t want to play anyone else.” Pentucket was fired up from the start, sometimes to a fault. The Sachems were whistled for seven traveling calls in the first quarter. “I think we were a little charged up,” said head coach John McNamara. “It’s an exciting day and a big game and we were a bit hyper. We got things calmed down, though. At the same time, you have to give credit to Bishop Fenwick because they were pressuring us which forced us to try to do too many things too quickly. “We’re an up-tempo team, but we were too hyper for a little bit.” Trailing by 8 at the half, Bishop Fenwick (16-8) cut the Pentucket lead to four heading into the fourth quarter. Then, it was McNamara’s time to take over. The senior never left the floor the entire game, knocking down a key 3-pointer midway through the final quarter to up the lead to 10. “That’s a big shot,” said John McNamara, her coach and father. “At a key point in the game that’s a key shot and it was a great job by everyone on the floor to set that play and get her the ball. Everyone did what they were supposed to, it was great.” Late in the game, after being fouled going for another three attempt, she was went to the line for three shots, knocking down all of them.  “I knew they were big shots. If I don’t make them they can come back down the floor and make it a real close game with plenty of time left,’’ said McNamara. “There is pressure, but I just told myself that I made the same shot a million times. I take so many of those shots in practice. I just imagined I was in practice.” The Sachems out-rebounded Fenwick 23-11 and nine of their 16 field goals were from 3-point range. “I don’t mind us taking threes because we can shoot,” said the coach. “I thought as the game went on, we were taking better threes in the sense that they were more quality shots. And, as the game went on, we were making more of those shots.” Fenwick tried to hit a homerun pass on multiple inbounds from under its own basket as well as a few other strategic moves to disrupt the undefeated Sachems. “We knew they could shoot,” said head coach Timothy Harrington. “We tried our best and I’m proud of our girls, but we were beaten by a very good basketball team.” Vanessa Cahill led the way with seven rebounds for the Sachems and freshman Nicole Viselli and sophomore Sarah Higgins combined for 16 points off the bench. Garden Party Yesterday’s win over Bishop Fenwick should bolster Pentucket’s confidence. In December, Fenwick lost a 62-61 squeaker to Archbishop Williams, the Sachems’ Tuesday state semifinal foe. The Archies beat Pentucket in the state semis in 2007 and 2008. They are led by 6-4 center Valerie Driscoll, who has signed with Michigan.