RallyNorth.net

Mon, Dec 23, 2013 03:45 PM @ Andover

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Salem	5	12	11	20	48
Andover	19	15	11	15	60

Caveney being Caveney

Thursday, December, 26 By Christopher Smith

NORTH ANDOVER — By the way Andover’s Colleen Caveney drives to the basket, she looks an awful lot like her cousin, Devon Caveney, a three-time Eagle-Tribune All-Star/state champion who graduated from Andover last spring.

“You can definitely tell they’re cousins, but Colleen’s personality is just so different and you can see it in the way she plays,” Andover junior Rachael Cormier said. “She’s very long. Her arms remind me of octopuses. So she’s always anticipating, always grabbing the ball. She’s really a huge part of our team.”

Caveney, a 5-7 guard, netted a game-high 19 points to lead Andover over Salem, 60-48, in the Hyde Division semifinal of the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic at Merrimack College. Andover will play Lawrence in the Hyde Division final Saturday.

Colleen said about her cousin Devon. “I looked up to her a lot. She was really good at driving to the basket strong and putting up 3s, and she’s always been a very consistent player.”

Caveney did a fine job yesterday of driving to the basket, getting to the free throw line and even adding a 3-pointer in her eight-point first quarter when Andover dominated. The Golden Warriors (4-0) outscored the Blue Devils 19-5 in the first period.

“We did really well at the beginning to get that good lead with steals and stuff,” said Caveney who scored nine points in the Golden Warriors’ opening victory over Lowell, then 20 points in a victory over Methuen and 19 in a win over Dracut this past Thursday.

Andover coach E.J. Perry loves Caveney’s energy and length.

“And the way she can play defense and then her aggressiveness on offense,” Perry said. “The only thing I talked to her about was just a little bit about shot selection tonight. But I also don’t want to take that away from her because she’s a good shooter. We’ve got to look at everything. I’ll look at the film. I thought she played excellent.”

Cormier and freshman Alyssa Casey each added 10 points while Jessica Witten chipped in with eight points.

Cormier did a fine job of bringing up the basketball against Salem’s pressure defense.

“I knew they were going to press her,” Perry said. “The (Brenna) Blakslee girl is a very good player and I thought (Salem coach Michaela (Galvin) did a good job scouting us. And Rachael didn’t turn the ball over in the backcourt at all.”

Emily Hickey led Salem with 16 points. Amanda Bickford added 12 points.