RallyNorth.net

BILLERICA — Once again North Andover found nothing charming in playing a Division 2 North sectional game against Arlington Catholic.

For the third straight year, the Cougars from the Catholic Central League knocked the Scarlet Knights out of the postseason with another convincing victory last night. Sixth-seeded Arlington Catholic ran away from second-seeded North Andover in the second quarter before finishing with a 59-40 semifinal victory at Billerica High School.

NORTH ANDOVER — Fortunately for North Andover, Morgan Lumb is not lacking in confidence.
So when she scored a mere two points in a 32-16 opening-round Division 2 North victory last week, she wasn’t overly concerned.
“Everyone has a bad game every once in a while,” said Lumb. “I wasn’t worried. I just had to get back out there and get some open shots.”
That lack of concern proved well founded yesterday afternoon as Lumb drilled four 3-pointers and scored 21 points to pace the Knights to a much-more impressive 51-35 victory over Wilmington.
The victory improves North Andover to 18-4 and advances it to Thursday’s North semifinals at Billerica against rugged Arlington Catholic.
“Earlier in the year, I didn’t know if this was possible,” admitted North Andover coach Sue Breen. “But the girls have gotten more and more confident and we’ve had a lot of girls lead us. No one girl has to do it for us.”
Indeed, while Lumb paced the offense, the Knights got plenty of contributions from everyone, particularly in an impressive first half in which they zoomed to an early 8-0 lead, held a 10-5 advantage after the first quarter and were ahead comfortably, 29-13 at halftime.
Amanda Foote, for example, had five of her eight steals, helping force 17 Wilmington turnivers in the first half, Caitlin Enright had five points and five rebounds, Julia Titone was 3 for 4 from the floor and Erika Zahoruiko was a defensive presence down low.
“Our defense sets the tone and it did in the first half,” said Breen. “Amanda has been doing that all year and we pride ourselves on our defense.
“I always tell them that if we get to 50 (offensively), good things are going to happen because our defense will take care of the rest.”
Behind physical 6-foot junior Maggie Brown, Wilmington did make one brief run at the start of the second half to move to within eight, 31-23, but a Pam Coufos jumper, a Lumb 3-pointer and a Zahoruiko jumper quickly put the lead back at 15 and the Wildcats never recovered.
Wilmington could never get any offensive consistency and its leading scorer, Amanda Keane, had just eight points. In three losses to North Andover this year, the Wildcats scored 37, 38 and 35 points.
Breen knows that the Knights will need to be at its very best defensively against an Arlington Catholic team that bounced the Knights out of the tournament last year and has crushed its first two tourney foes.

NORTH ANDOVER — Winning with flair isn’t a requirement at this stage of the season when advancing is the only concern on a team or coach’s mind.

Which is a good thing for the North Andover girls.

North Andover finished with a CAL title and a perfect league record for the first time since 2005, accomplishing the feats with its 63-44 defeat of North Reading. Sophomore Morgan Lumb (team-high 19 points and 7 rebounds) played well once again for the Knights while Erika Zahoruiko contributed to a defensive effort that held the Hornets to just 15 first-half points. With only eight free throws attempted, the game took just one hour to play.

Morgan Lumb had another big as she poured in 20 points and recorded eight assists and five rebounds to lead North Andover girls basketball to a 73-32 victory over Chelmsford.

Led by Amanda Foote, North Andover had a strong first half and then held on for a 48-44 victory over Masconomet to wrap up its first Cape ANn League title since 2005. 

Ally Fazio scored all 13 of her points in the second quarter as Andover surged past North Andover with a 24-6 frame on its way to a 69-54 victory. Devin Caveney had 16 points for the Warriors (17-1) and Nicole Boudreau had 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. Morgan Lumb had 19 points for North Andover (13-4), which had a 10-game winning streak snapped.

Pam Coufos scored 10 points and made nine steals off the bench to lead North Andover girls basketball to a 55-38 victory over Wilmington. Amanda Foote added eight points and six steals for the Scarlet Knights, who have won 10 straight games. 

With a rugged closing schedule ahead, North Andover rode strong defense to its ninth straight victory, 45-26 win over Hamilton-Wenham. Amanda Foote (10 points and 6 steals) and Pam Koufos (2 points, 4 assists and 7 steals) were "pretty spectacular on defense," according to head coach Sue Breen. Sophomore Michaela Mello grabbed nine rebounds for the Knights, who face powerful Wilmington Friday.

Erika Zahoruiko had her second straight double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds as North Andover cruised past Georgetown, 48-32. Morgan Lumb had a pair of 3-pointer and finished with 10 points and four steals.