Staying Alive: Stoneham Survives Playoff Battle with Lynnfield

The girls' basketball team narrowly defeated the Lynnfield Pioneers 48-44 Thursday night in the preliminary round of the North Divison 3 tournament.

In a tightly contested fourth quarter, Sam Trant nailed four free throws with seconds remaining to ice the game for the Spartans.

With the win over no. 10-seeded Lynnfield, No. 7-ranked Stoneham advances to the second round to take on No. 2-ranked Swampscott Saturday at 7 p.m. in Swampscott in the MIAA tournament.

Points at a Premium

Baskets were hard to come by for both teams early on. Neither team could take advantage of each other’s turnovers and missed hoops, but it was a halftime speech by Stoneham coach Sarah Mills that got her team going out of the gate in the third quarter.

“It was a very up and down game and I showed them stats at halftime that we only had nine offensive rebounds in the first half and that is just not going to cut it,” Mills said. “We had 12 total and only three in the second half and that will not get it done against teams going forward.”

Rally Time

The Spartans trailed at halftime 21-20, but put together a strong third quarter, resulting in a five-point lead heading into the final frame up 36-31.

Mills said Vanessa Parker helped pick up the slack for an injured Stephanie Bramante, but ultimately it was a team effort that made the difference.

“Vanessa was very key and was playing injured so we used her sparingly,” Mills said. “She definitely stepped up, but everyone was all over the court from Sam Trant to every person on the floor. Everyone showed their leadership tonight.”

Neck-and-Neck Battle to the Finish

The Spartans and Pioneers traded baskets down the stretch until the final few minutes when the Spartans were able to get some key stops on defense and hit some timely free throws, with four coming from team-high scorer Trant (10 points) to punch the Spartans' ticket to the second round versus Swampscott.

“It was a very big win for us,” Mills said. “We have our work cut out for us next round.”

The sisterly duo of Jill and Grace Macura combined to score 17 points (nine by Jill, eight by Grace), followed by Lauren Gallahue (eight) and Parker with six.

Difficult Setback for Lynnfield

Lynnfield coach Pamela MacDonald was heartbroken with the loss after her team made enormous strides throughout the season.

“It is a tough way to lose,” MacDonald said. “The kids just work hard and we just couldn’t finish it off.”

MacDonald didn't take anything away from her team as she stressed how special this particular team was.

“From the beginning to the end, it shows a lot about our team and how hard we work,” MacDonald said. “We kept plugging away all game and all season.”

MacDonald was pleased with her team's fight early on in the game despite getting into early foul trouble.

“Our starters got into foul trouble but we kept in it,” MacDonald said. “We hit a lot of threes to stay in it. It’s just a tough way to go out.”

The Pioneers were led by Shannon Lamusta, who scored a game-high 15 points, followed by Kelsey Leblanc (nine points), and Katherine Lawless and Ashley McRae with eight apiece.