EHS Roundup
Girls basketball team tops Medford to move into first place in GBL
The Everett High girls basketball team moved into sole possession of first place in the Greater Boston League with a pulsating 54-47 victory at Medford Friday evening.
The Lady Crimson Tide now stand at 3-1 in the GBL, a game ahead of Medford and Malden, both of whom have two losses.
The GBL title will be decided this week when Everett was set to host Malden (which edged Everett in their first meeting) last night (Tuesday) and Somerville Friday. The Lady Crimson Tide have their proverbial fate in their own hands, inasmuch as victories in both encounters will clinch a GBL crown for the second straight year. The Everett girls hoop program had not won a GBL title for more than 20 years until last season.
The contest at Medford initially did not look promising for coach Tammy Turner and her crew, who trailed at the first three junctures, 14-13, 30-29, and 39-34, before revving up their defense and offense over the final eight minutes to pull away for the victory.
With captain Haley Powers and freshman Carolanne Cardinale providing the spark defensively, the Lady Crimson Tide forced Medford to commit costly turnovers that led to a run of fast-break baskets, two by captain Yasmeen Guerrier and one by Jackie Emmanuel, and two additional free throws by Guerrier, that vaulted Everett into its first lead of the game with less than three minutes to play.
From there, the game was in the clutch hands of Captain Yasmeen, who was a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe in the closing minutes, to maintain and enlarge the Everett advantage down the stretch.
“This was a great team win for us,” said Turner. “We trailed the whole way, but never gave up and our hard work and perseverance paid off in the end.”
Guerrier topped the Everett scoring chart with 21 points. The trio of Cardinale, Nyomi Dottin, and Emanuel finished with seven points apiece. Powers added six points, Jalissa Harding chipped in four, and Kiara Wilkerson contributed two.
Earlier in the week the Lady Crimson Tide split a pair of non-league contests against rivals from the Northeastern Conference, defeating Marblehead, 47-34, but falling to Lynn Classical, 64-48.
Everett sprinted to a 19-5 bulge after the first quarter against Marblehead, paced by an awesome offensive performance by Dottin, who hit for 16 points in the opening eight minutes, as the Everett girls literally ran their opponents off the floor, with Dottin finishing the Lady Crimson Tide fast breaks.
However, early foul trouble to Dottin and to Guerrier interrupted the Everett momentum, allowing Marblehead to close the gap to 22-15 by the end of the first half.
The Lady Crimson Tide resumed their mastery after the intermission, reasserting control and outscoring Marblehead 12-4 in the quarter to take a 34-19 lead into the final period, from where Marblehead never threatened.
Dottin led Everett with 20 points, followed by Guerrier with 13, Cardinale with five, and the trio of Powers, Wilkerson, and Maddy Duraes with three apiece.
“Carolanne Cardinale gave us a real lift,” said Turner. “She made some great passes for assists to Nyomi Dottin and her aggressive defense resulted in steals. She also hit a three-pointer and a lay-up in the third period that allowed us to pull away.”
After last night’s game with Malden, Turner and her crew, who now are 5-5 on the season, are set to trek to Methuen tomorrow (Thursday) evening. Tip-off for Friday’s game with Somerville at the EHS gym is set for 7:00.
Faia notches hat trick in 4-4 deadlock for EHS hockey team
Everett High star Marc Faia, who reached the 100-point career milestone two weeks ago, added to his legacy by scoring a hat trick in a 4-4 tie with East Boston last week.
The Crimson Tide trailed 3-2 after two periods, but scored two goals at the start of the third stanza to grab a 4-3 advantage before Eastie brought the game back to level with a lamplighter midway through the period.
Ryan Snook tallied the other Everett goal.
“It was a great hokey game, with both teams skating up and down the ice all game,” said EHS head coach Erick Kainen.
EHS goalie Brendan Calderon was immense in between the pipes, turning aside 53 Eastie shots on goal.
“Brendan was a rock,” said Kainen. “He made some spectacular saves, as he has been doing all season for us. Brendan has a great work ethic and his commitment to improving with every practice and every game is paying off.”
This past Saturday the annual Alumni game and get-together took place, which proved to be a fun event for all on hand.
The Crimson Tide will host Somerville this evening (Wednesday) at Allied Veterans Rink at 7:00 and will engage in a rematch with East Boston Monday at 4:00 at Eastie’s Porrazzo rink.