Fantastic Freshman: Donnelly drops 19 as Mustangs win

SOMERVILLE -- The Medford High School girls basketball team successfully avoided dropping consecutive decisions for the first time this season, picking up a huge 56-50 victory over Greater Boston League rivals Somerville at Eugene Brune Field House last night.

Salem downed Medford 42-37 in overtime on Jan. 9, the Mustangs’ last time on the court, as the scheduled game against Revere High on Jan. 12 was postponed due to inclement weather.

Medford certainly showed no ill effects from the extended break.

Freshman Sarah Donnelly keyed the Mustangs’ offense with a team-high 19 points, helping to pick up the slack for the under-the-weather Tania Holmes, who still managed to score 12 points, as did Jackie Pellecchia.

Somerville’s back court combination of Kelsey Garrity and Indira Evora paced the home team, as Garrity, a senior captain, led all scorers with 20 points and the sophomore Evora deposited 15.

Medford is now 6-2 overall and 2-0 in GBL play, while Somerville falls to 3-6 overall and 1-1 in the league.

The Mustangs opened the game on a 9-2 run, but the Highlanders’ back court was able to have its way with the Medford defense early, and Evora scored the next six points of the game before senior Lindsay Rimpel (2 points, 6 rebounds) scored the go-ahead basket, giving Somerville a 10-9 lead with 1:26 left in the opening frame.

The Highlanders would continue to play well throughout the first half, and take a 24-17 lead into the break.

“We did a great job executing the game plan,” said Somerville assistant coach Jim Kotzuba. “We made them work for every possession, we had some breakdowns, some turnovers ... we’re a young team and we had some breakdowns. Hopefully, we can correct them.”

The Mustangs knew they would have to switch things up defensively during the second half, and try to slow down the Highlanders’ back court.

“Down seven at the half, we went to a zone which we call ‘eleven,’” said Medford head coach Leo Burke. “I think it kind of frustrated their shooters ... we were able to contain Garrity from dribbling down the middle and dishing off, that was a big key.”

Things started to go the Mustangs’ way in the third quarter, as a run of Somerville turnovers and defensive fouls, coupled with good shooting from Medford, allowed the Mustangs to tie the score at 26 with 2:32 left in the third on a Donnelly free-throw.

“In the second half, we had a lot of bailout fouls, where we were playing good defense and then we bailed (Medford) out,” said Kotzuba. “They are such a good free-throw shooting team, they are going to make you pay for it.”

Donnelly would hit a three-pointer and a pair of free-throws towards the end of the third, and senior captain Kasey Moran would hit a three at the buzzer, as Medford took a tenuous 36-32 lead into the start of the fourth quarter.

“That was a huge momentum swing,” said Kotzuba. “We were trying to pick up the defense ... we wanted to pick up the pressure again, but I think we backed off a little.”

With 4:40 remaining in the game, Highlanders’ junior guard Ashley Auciello tied the score at 40 with a three-pointer. The teams battled back and forth until, coming off a pair of Garrity free-throws, Holmes, the GBL’s reigning co-player of the year, did what she does best: take the game over.

“A big lift,” said Burke, about the performance of his junior guard, who scored 9 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter. “She was hurting tonight, her knees have been bothering  her, and she’s had a little stomach flu, but she stepped up today, and she hit her foul shots when we needed her.”

Holmes carved the Somerville defense to score two quick transition layups, giving the Mustangs a 49-45 lead with under two minutes to play, and teamed up with Donnelly to effectively end the game at the free-throw line.

“At the beginning of the game they gave us a hard time,” said Burke. “But I think we settled down, we knew we were in for a war, the GBL is always a war.”

Somerville hosts Everett on Tuesday as action in the GBL continues, while the Mustangs pay a visit to league leaders Cambridge Rindge and Latin that night at 7pm.

“They might be a little more athletic than us,” said Burke. “Overall, I think we match up pretty good, but athleticism, I might give it to them. We’re going to work hard the next three days for them ...”