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Owls advance in Haverhill tourney

Timberlane easily dispatched of Pelham, 60-28, and will take on an ever-strong Swampscott squad that ran away from Cambridge Rindge & Latin, 61-37 to open Sunday’s Greater Haverhill Christmas Tourney play.

Starting four underclassmen and using sophomore Rebecca MacDougall as the first off the bench, the youthful Owls rode strong overall team speed to take advantage of matchup issues against the smaller Pythons, never trailing in the contest.

"Sometimes the girls can get carried away and make mistakes,” explained Timberlane head coach Bruce Johnson. “But when they execute, we end up with something really good.”

Junior Meghan Short was a force all over the court, finishing up with 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting with 3 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 blocked shots. Her highlight-reel steal in the Pelham paint, court-length drive and left-handed lay-in for a conventional three-point play midway through the second quarter gave the Owls a double-digit lead that would only grow the rest of the night. The hoop and free throw capped a 13-4 Owl run that essentially locked things up very early.

"Meghan is fundamentally sound and understands the game well,” Johnson said. “She’s playing out of position sometimes, but a lot of people on the team are learning new roles and that’s what makes things fun. The players are accepting new challenges.”

Katie Matatall showed a deft touch from the outside, draining three 3-pointers to lead the Owls with 15 points. Junior Page Travaglini picked her offensive spots carefully to finish with 10 points as did MacDougall, hitting eight of her total to lead second-half scorers.

"We’re trying to prepare to take advantage of what the defense gives us,“ Johnson said. “We want to capitalize on their bad decisions and try to make decisions that give us nice looks at the basket. We were not too good to start the season but we’re getting better.”

The Owls will be challenged by defending Division 3 champion Swampscott, who rode a monster 27-point effort from senior Kara Gilberg to an easy win over Cambridge.

Freshman Ara Talkov also stepped up with 11 points in the victory.