Post-Season Push Starts for Boys Basketball Tonight

The resilient Danvers High boys basketball team will look to bounce back from Tuesday night's loss to Marblehead and begin a final push toward State Tournament qualification tonight at Winthrop (7 p.m.). The Falcons (7-9) must win three of their final four games in order to play their way in by finishing with a .500 record.

It won't be easy. Second-place Winthrop is one slot ahead of the Falcons in the NEC South standings and has already qualified for the tournament. After visiting winless Swampscott next Tuesday night, Danvers closes the regular season with its final league contest against Gloucester (6-10) on Friday, Feb. 18 and a non-league home finale against Triton on Monday, Feb. 21.

“Qualifying would be terrific. I don't think anyone thought we'd be in this position at the start of the season. Now that we're in this situation, we want more, we want the tournament. It's interesting how goals change during the season. The key thing is that we're playing meaningful games in February and it's been awhile since that's happened here,” said Coach John Walsh.

Boys hockey closes in on tourney berth

The Falcons snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 8-4-3 with Wednesday night's 2-2 tie against Saugus at Salem State's Rockett Arena. Danvers now needs one point with five games remaining to qualify for the upcoming Division Two North Sectional tournament.

Danvers waited until the final minute to secure the tie with Saugus. Trailing, 2-1, goalie Seth Kamens was pulled in favor of an extra attacker and sophomore Rob Buchanan buried the rebound of a Brian O'Keefe shot with 44.5 seconds to play. Sophomore Nick Strangie had the Falcons' other goal, his team-high 13^th, while junior goalie Seth Kamens turned back 19 shots.

Danvers, which fell to Beverly last Saturday and to Marblehead on Monday, seeks its first win in four outings tomorrow afternoon against Winthrop (SSU, 4:30 p.m.) then faces Peabody on Wednesday night (SSU, 7:30 p.m.).

Girls hockey extends winning streak

The tourney-bound Beverly/Danvers squad handled Masconomet last Saturday, 4-1, to improve their record to 10-4-0. The game was tied after two periods, 1-1, before the Lady Panthers finally solved Masconomet goalie Alex Jones (48 saves) and put it away with third-period tallies by Olvia Konaxis, Allyson Spencer and Nicole Woods.

Janelle Parker scored a second-period goal and goalie Jenna LoVasco finished with 15 saves for the Lady Panthers, who return to action after a week-long layoff tomorrow against Marblehead/Swampscott (SSU, 8:30 p.m.). Beverly/Danvers plays at Auburn Monday (5:30 p.m.) and tangles with Cambridge/Somerville in Cambridge on Wednesday (4 p.m.)

Girls basketball rebounds

Following a 60-50 Super Bowl Sunday loss to Masconomet – during which senior Kellie Macdonald scored her – the Falcons bounced back Tuesday night with a solid 52-45 road win against Marblehead.

Sarah Palazola powered the Falcons with 17 points while Kasey Sherry added 13. Macdonald had eight points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots while Katie McKenna made a key contribution with nine second-half points.

The Falcons, now 12-4, have homes games tonight against Winthrop and next Tuesday against Swampscott and will be looking to sweep the season series from both.

Swimmers third in NEC Meet

Danvers placed third with 605.5 points in Tuesday night's competition at Salem State University. The Falcons' boys were second with 336.5 points and the girls third with 269.

Graham Beck won the 200 IM (2:02.44) and 100 breaststroke (1:01.54) and joined Ethan Collins, Phil Valles and Jeramey Evans on the winning 200 medley and 400 free relay teams. Tommy Giannino placed sixth in the 200 free and eighth in the 100 backstroke while Julianne Hopkins contributed a fourth in the 100 backstroke and placed eighth in the 200 IM.

Gymnastics earns accolades

Danvers sophomore while coach Heather Boepple was recognized as co-Coach of the Year at the NEC/CAL Meet last Saturday. Levine finished with an all-around average score of 35.975 for the season, sharing co-MVP honors with Masco's Heather Stegall. Danvers' senior captain Sarah Barry was also named a league all-star on the beam. Danvers will compete in the Individual States on Sunday, led by Barry in three events – vault, bars, and beam.