EHS Roundup
Girls basketball team
seeks finishing touch
To paraphrase Everett Dirksen, the late RepubIican U.S. Senator from Illinois,(who reportedly once said, in referring to the huge budget requests of the Democrats, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.”), a bucket here and a bucket there, and the Everett High girls basketball team could have been looking at a very successful start to their 2015 season.
But, as the Lady Crimson Tide have discovered, coming close only counts in the game of horseshoes, and thus a one-point loss to Medford and a triple-overtime heartbreaker at Triton this past week have left the Everett squad looking at a 1-4 record that just as easily could be 4-1 at the quarter-way point of the season.
“We’ve been playing well,” said EHS head coach Tammy Turner, “but other than in our lone win (a 51-35 decision over Saugus), we’ve been unable to play consistently for all four periods of the game.”
A chief case in point was the 34-33 loss to Medford in which Everett let all the way until the final moments of the contest. The Lady Crimson Tide had both the ball and a one point lead with 47 seconds to go, but after working the shot clock down, Everett missed on two attempts at the basket (one of which came on an offensive rebound) before Medford took possession with 16 ticks left on the clock. A Medford girl then drew a foul and the Lady Mustang made good on both free throws with 11 seconds to go. Everett set up a play and had two good chances at scoring the winning hoop, but the ball went in-and-out on both attempts.
The triple-overtime loss to Triton this past Friday saw some brilliant shooting heroics from Everett’s Talia Mirra, who drained a pair of three-pointers in succession to tie the score with about four minutes to go in regulation, and then from Talia Riccioli, who sank a trey at the buzzer in regulation to send the game into overtime. Riccioli’s clutch shot was set up by Mirra, who had stolen a Triton pass and was driving to the Triton basket when she dished the ball back to Riccioli, who was standing behind the arc for the tying trey.
That left matters at 38-38, from where the teams dueled to a 42-42 deadlock after the first OT session and a 46-46 draw after the second OT. Triton then scored seven unanswered points in the third and final four-minute OT stanza for a 53-46 win.
In the Saugus victory, nine Lady Crimson Tide figured in the scoring, led by Riccioli with 11 points. Nyomi Dottin hit for eight points, followed by Yemi Okhihan, Netta Johnson, and Mirra with six each; Lunica Figueroa and Haley Powers with four apiece; and Venaida Vasquez and Jasmine Harding with two each. In the Triton battle, Riccioli paced the scoring with 14 points and Mirra added 10.
In the lone contest among their first five games in which the Lady Crimson Tide trailed from the outset, a 56-37 loss to Marblehead, foul trouble proved a decisive factor in Everett’s demise. Okhihan and Mirra each scored 13 points in that encounter.
Turner and her crew have some key matchups on tap this week, starting tonight (Wednesday) at non-league opponent Newburyport. They travel to GBL rival Somerville Friday and then will host GBL foe Malden Tuesday.
Faia scores four
goals in 6-2 triumph
Everett High sophomore Marc Faia enjoyed the kind of night every athlete dreams about, and which no doubt he will remember for the rest of his life, when he scored four goals to power the Crimson Tide hockey team to a 6-2 victory over Swampscott in the consolation round of the Lynn Christmas Tournament last Tuesday.
“Marc gave us a great game,” said EHS head coach Jason Lawrence of Faia’s prolific hat trick plus-one effort in a game in which the Crimson Tide jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes and never looked back. “After we lost the tourney opener the night before, it was nice to see us come out with determination and take control from the opening face-off.”
Everett did not fare as well in its next two contests, dropping a 4-0 decision to Newton North Saturday evening and 4-1 to Medford Monday. “Both Newton North and Medford are good teams,” noted Lawrence, “and they were better than us on those nights. We played well, but some lapses hurt us and they took advantage.”
Ray Suppa potted the lone lamplighter for Everett in the two games, which gave the Tide a 1-0 advantage in the first period against Medford.
Lawrence and his crew, who now stand at an even-steven 3-3 on the season, start a stretch of four games in nine days that will bring them to the halfway mark of the season. They host Somerville tonight (Wednesday) at 7:00 at Allied Veterans Rink; meet Mystic Valley Saturday at 4:10 at Allied Veterans, trek to Cambridge Monday, and return home to host Swampscott Wednesday.
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