NORTH ANDOVER — It certainly wasn’t a pretty portrait painted by the Andover girls on Sunday inside Merrimack College’s Lawler Arena, but the Warriors were more than happy with the result.
Shaking off a slow start and a pesky Bridgewater-Raynham team, the Golden Warriors got 21 points from Kallie Martin, 13 coming in the second half, en route to a 48-39 win and a spot in the girls final of the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic against Natick.
“It’s always a battle against them. Credit to Bridgewater-Raynham. They had a game plan and came out and made it really tough for us,” Andover coach Alan Hibino said. “We had to go back and make some adjustments and found some things that worked.”
It was a sloppy beginning for Andover as the Trojans took a 10-4 lead after one quarter. The Golden Warriors rallied to tie the game midway through the second before B-R reopened a five-point lead.
Andover had the last salvo of the half, however. A quick 7-0 run was capped by Kiera Lenihan’s buzzer-beating layup that made it 21-19 Golden Warriors
Five straight points by B-R’s Sydney White gave the Trojans back the lead, but when Martin completed a three-point play, Andover had a lead it would never relinquish.
Lenihan added another buzzer beater to end the third and cap a 14-5 run that extended the lead to 35-29. She added two more buckets early in the fourth to make it a seven-point game as the Trojans could get no closer than 42-36 the rest of the way.
The opening semifinal saw Natick’s staunch defense befuddle Pentucket most of the way in a 56-42 Redhawks win.
After Panthers star Amelia Crowe hit a three to end the first quarter with her team leading 15-11, Pentucket would go nearly the next two quarters without hitting a field goal as Natick stymied them at every turn.
“If any team can keep up with our pressure for 32 minutes, we will tip our hat to them. Were relentless. That’s our motto for this year,” Natick coach Orix Cohen said.
Even with its defense controlling the game, the Redhawks didnt take the lead until Katie McMahon hit her lone basket of the game as her squad led 23-22 at the break.
The third quarter would belong to Natick star Kayla Dunlap as she scored nine of her game-high 25 points over those eight minutes.
By the time Allie Gagnon hit Pentucket’s first field goal in over 13 minutes, Natick had opened up a 34-25 lead and kept piling on from there.
When Williams drilled a three early in the fourth, it was a 34-14 Natick run that made it 45-29 and insured the Redhawks were on their way to the title bout.
