RallyNorth.net

Thu, Jan 29, 2009 07:30 PM @ Central Catholic

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Lowell	10	18	14	17	59
Central Catholic	15	10	19	17	61

Central outlasts Lowell in thriller

Thursday, January, 29 By Conor Clancy
Correspondent

Lawrence — Katie Zenevitch had a smile on her face from ear to ear.

“It’s the best feeling in the world to beat Lowell twice in a season, I still can’t believe it. I couldn’t stop screaming.”

The Central Catholic girls basketball team had plenty to scream and cheer about after its thrilling 61-59 win over rival Lowell High School last night. The highly anticipated rubber-match between the two powerhouses lived up to its billing as the game came down to the final seconds after 32 grueling minutes of back-and-forth basketball. Both teams now have an 11-2 record.

After Zenevitch hit a long corner-three to go up 57-55 with 1:21 remaining in the fourth quarter, she found Gia O’Connor for an easy bucket underneath 30 seconds later to give Central a 59-55 lead with just under a minute left.

Lowell roared back quickly with its set of 6-foot twins, Whitney and Brianna Wilson and cut the deficit back to only one 60-59 with 7 seconds before fouling on the inbound pass sending Central’s Ashley Evangelista to the line.

Hitting the first free throw gave Central a 61-59 lead and the ensuing miss left the door slightly open for Lowell as guard Kara Rogers attempted to drive the length of the court for a good shot from only a few feet but the shot missed and the horn sounded, giving the win to Central and sending its players into hugs and screams.

“This was just an unbelievable high school basketball game,” said coach Sue Downer. “It was exciting down to the wire and for our girls to finish it with a win is a testament to them.”

“The last couple of minutes I was just trying to tell everyone to slow down and just concentrate on getting rebounds,” said Zenevitch. “Against this team that was our number one goal, just getting rebounds.”

Listening to her own advise, Zenevtich was a monster on the boards. By nights end she had collected 19 rebounds while pouring in 21 points, 12 from beyond the arc.

While Zenevitch garnered most of Lowell’s attention throughout the night, two players that seemed to fly under its radar were Gia O’Connor (16 points 5 rebounds, 2 steals) and Melissa Miller (16 points 3 rebounds). Down three at halftime, the duo were instrumental in the third quarter, scoring 14 of their combined 32 points andmatching the entire Lowell team for the period.

“Melissa played a complete game tonight, she did so many things for us while Gia was reading every play well, she knew where she had to be,” said Downer. “Everyone contributed in some little way tonight it was just great to see.”