Cougars Maul Jayhawks, Terriers Ride The Waves.

(Editor's note: The following information was provided by the coaches and administrators of the Tewksbury Girls Basketball League.)

COUGARS 34 JAYHAWKS 12

The Cougars played their best game of the season against the Jayhawks and were able to get the victory. Emily Zuraski once again showed great leadership distributing the ball to the open players in the 1st qtr. In the 2 qtr Felicia Ragucci played incredible as well and was able to continue spreading the ball around and carry the momentum we had going. By the end of the 4th qtr the Cougars were able to pull out the victory. We do realize we still have to improve every part of our game and we have a long way to go to get to our goal this year. We will continue to improve every week because we want to be the best! 

 The Jayhawks defense is becoming stronger each week, but it just wasn't enough to stop a powerful Cougar offense. All of the girls pressured the ball well and hustled the entire game until the final buzzer. With 9 players this week, we called on Tayla Spezzano(2) and Emily Burns(2) to fill the voids and they dove in! Both girls had multiple steals and drove the net each time. Michaela Svendsen(4) and Caitlin Panessiti(2) hustled under the net grabbing key rebounds and put up many shots that just would not drop. Olivia Powers was also key under the boards with great blocks. Britney Bourassa(2), Victoria Horton, Meghan Grazayk and Emily Saunders all shared the point guard position today and did a fine job getting the ball past our opponent. All of the girls gave 100% of their efforts today and dug down deep ! Defensive player honors this week goes to the entire Jayhawks team....well done girls! Happy Holidays to everyone and see you all next year!!

TERRIERS 24 WAVES 14 

 The Waves played a strong game against the Terriers, but it was not enough to win the game. The first half was particularly impressive, as the Waves held a 3 point lead at the break. However, they could not keep it going for the entire game and ended up losing 24-14. Scoring for the Waves was Erika Whynot with 6 points, Colleen MacNeil with 4 points, and 2 points each for Lauren Riccardi and Rhiannon DeLucia. Also playing well was Emily Woods, Erin Coulter, Sophia Alfonso, Lizzie Markwarth, Hannah Maffeo, Amy Glover, and Alicia Moore.

EAGLES 28 HUSKIES 8
A battle of the unbeaten took place this weekend and the focus for the Eagle team would be defense. Sammy Surowiec, one of the league’s best defenders for the past two years, would put on clinic. Her focus was to stop the powerful and shooting stars of the Huskies team and she was nothing short of magnificent. Sammy added two points that topped an incredible day which saw Maddie Wescott and Marissa Doherty dominate the offense. Shaylee Puleo would join the effort scoring on several key baskets and taking command of the court. Sarah Constantino and Nicole Liggiero provide consistent play on both sides of the court with Kayla Giaimo improving every week. Jackie Marchant leads the team in rebounding while Alexandra Bourassa is the team "X" factor. She can play virtually any position which makes her versatile and difficult to defend.

SENIOR LEAGUE

SONICS 20 MAGIC 9

The Sonics started out slow offensively against the Magic but the D was tight as could be.. Toni Joy got the offense going with a 6 point second quarter. Delaney Chisholm was right behind her with 4 points and Marissa Conlin had 3 points. Mary Crowe, Jessica Lehmann, and Meagan Timmins rounded out the scoring by each scoring a basket and Katie Dunlevy sunk a foul shot for one point. The Sonics D was tenacious holding the Magic to 9 points and led by Stephanie McHatton in the first and third and Jamie Burger in the second and fourth. Stephanie was grabbing at everything in the low post and Jamie was playing tough at the top of the key. The rest of the Sonics were right in tune defensively and totally frustrated the Magic offense.

The Holiday Magic wasn’t working for the Magic in their loss to the Sonics, as it was another week of good shots that didn’t fall. Challenged by visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads – defense was hard to come by in the second quarter. The Magic played a much better second half, but could not recover on the scoreboard. Leading scorer was Sarah Baptista with 4 points, followed by Nicole Petherbridge and Michelle Creedon with 2 points each, and Heather Doyle with 1. Defensive Player of the game was Nicole Petherbridge.

BLAZERS 32 SPURS 19

The Blazers withstood a well played 1^st half by the Spurs to come away with the 13 point victory. The Spurs kept it close until the 3^rd quarter when Emily Velozo and Ariana Calouro turned up the defensive pressure and ran a productive break to pull away. Scoring for the Blazers were Velozo and Karalyn Gallella with 8, Caitlin Carroll, Ariana, and Kirsten Dick with 4, and Shalimar Hulme and Emily Duquette with 2 each. Duquette showed great determination in scoring her first points of the season. After pulling down a hard fought rebound she put up a shot which was off the mark but fought hard again to get the ball back and swished her next shot. Defensive players of the game were Dick (5 steals and 5 rebounds) and Taylor Donahoe (6 rebounds and 4 blocks). Makayla Calouro also looked great on defense seeing her 1^st action at the forward position and playing 3 quarters.

JUNIOR LEAGUE

STARZZ 20 LIBERTY 2

The Shooting Starzz put forth their best effort of the season. Looking to head into the winter hiatus on a high note, the Starzz got off to a slow start but managed to play strong defense until the scoring started to go their way. Leading the charge was Marissa Ladderbush (8 pts), Amber Buttaro had her first multi-point game and had (4 pts), Kenzie Kennison chipped in with (4 pts), Leah Veloz (2 pts) and Daisha Thompson (2 pts). Defensive players of the game goes to Leah and Daisha. They worked the low post very well and grabbed a ton of rebounds and made many second shot attempts. Offensive player of the game goes to Marissa. Team work awards go to Isabella Beyloune, Megan Cunningham, Ava Nickerson and Rachael Strangie. The girls continue to improve each week and we look forward to getting back in the swing of things come January.

Another tough loss for the Liberty. The lone basket was scored by Halle Carciofi in the 1^st quarter, after some great offensive rebounding and shot attempts by Halle, Kendra Waugh, and Faith Mazzipica. Caitlyn Fiore, Faith Mazzipica, Rebecca DeFrancesco and Madi Sjostedt did a good job of bringing up the ball, but the tenacious defensive play of the Starzz caused some turnovers and made it difficult to get many shots off. Rena Ruggiero had a couple of awesome drives to the hoop, and Julia Garland made some key steals. Hailey Bedley and Alexis Hillis contributed with good rebounding. Defensive player of the game was Halle Carciofi.

MYSTICS 7 LYNX 6

The Mighty Mystics came up with a huge win despite probably their worst offensive game of the season. They were shut out of scoring in the first half due to the fact that the Lynx were playing such great defense. They went into half time trailing 4-0. In the 3rd qtr they managed to finally land one basket but also gave up one to the Lynx. In the fourth qtr the Mystics buckled down and played shut down defense to hold the Lynx scoreless and Belle DeRoche was able to nail 2 huge baskets to tie it up. With the score now tied at 6-6 and time running out quickly Rebecca Smith took it upon herself to drive to the hoop and take the shot. With only 1.28 seconds remaining in regulation she drew the foul and went to the line for 2 shots. The whole gym was silent while Becca stood there stone-faced with determination on her face. She took the first shot and it hit the back rim and bounced out, a little too strong. She then took a deep breath realizing victory had just one chance left. She focused on her target, took the shot and nailed it, nothing but net!! She won the game for us right there. Becca is one of the greatest Mystics of all time as she proved once again. Since joining this team last season she has been working relentlessly to improve her game and it all added up and paid off at this moment. Player of the game... Becca Smith. 

The Lynx lost a nail biter on Saturday against a very talented Mystics team. The Lynx overall played a great game defensively and led most of the game. However the Mystics never waned in their effort and were able to come on late to pull out the victory. In the 1^st half The Lynx defensive plan was executed flawlessly and they were able to hold the high scoring Mystics scoreless. Grace Morris scored on 2 free throws and Jessica Caredeo swished a jumper for the 4-0 halftime lead. In the 3^rd quarter the Mystics scored early to make it 4-2 and Caredeo responded with another bucket to take a 6-2 lead. In the 4^th the Mystics kept battling and chipped away at the lead and tied it with just about a minute left. Then with seconds left the Lynx fouled a Mystics player on the break who was able to sink one of the free throws for the final score. This was a complete team effort for the Lynx on defense. Kendall Donahoe (3 blocks) and Sarah Milne (3 steals) played fantastic defense on the Mystics center. Morris had 7 steals. Janine Richardson played strong man-to-man defense near the basket. Sabrina Alman defended the 1^st pass with precision. Elizabeth Stephens (2 steals) was more aggressive attacking the ball. Lauren McIntyre ripped down 6 rebounds. Molly O’Neill was tough underneath with some key rebounds.

STORM 12 SPARKS 6

The Sparks played a hard fought game right up to the end but came up short. The bleachers were packed with fans from both teams rooting them on from the beginning to the end of the game. The girls were smiling as they played for their fans. The scoring was evenly spread between Kerry Shea, Brianna Walker, and Alexa Harrington each scoring 2 points. Alexa was very excited as this was her first basket of the season after several attempts in past games. Abigail Naugler and Julia Cafferty had several attempts that came very close but did not drop. Julia Giaimo played a solid first half before coming out due to a minor injury. She continued to be a great teammate from the sidelines. Surabhi Keesari found herself in a position to shoot the ball underneath after picking up a loose ball and grabbing a couple of rebounds. The defensive highlight of the game came when Sarah Molander read the offense and made a crucial steal continuing to dribble the ball up the court. It was a great read of the offense resulting in a solid steal. Overall, it was great fun watching the Sparks play a solid game.

COMETS 9 MONARCHS 8

The Short handed Comets played the Monarchs in their toughest match up of the season thus far, but came away with a 9 to 8 victory. Tough defense again lead the way to victory when offense was hard to find. Leanne Durham, Kiley Tibbetts, Shannon Crowley, and Rachel Conway played tough interior defense and rebounded to limit the Monarchs chances inside. Morgan Woodman and Madison Bourassa kept pressure on the ball not allowing the Monarch guards any chance to set up any offense. Lizzie Gallella played both inside and out on top on defense and lead the offense scoring 9 points leading the team to victory.

ROCKERS 20 MERCURY 8

Great hustle today by both teams. Emily Puccia and Becky Giles led the Mercury scoring with 4 points each. Great defense by Bianca Bongiorno and Olivia Delonais. Madelyn Berry and Silvia Sordillo came up with some great rebounding. Great team effort by all the girls on the team!

TRAVEL SUMMARIES

 7B

TEWKSBURY 35 READING 22
On the road again for their third game in a row the 7B travel team looked to capture their first win. They had to get past Reading in order to do this and jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Kiera Nash and Erika Whynot both had break out games for the Redmen each dropping in 8 points. Nash earned her points under the basket with some hard fought battles and Whynot earned hers with some nice outside shooting. Rounding out the scoring for the Redmen were Sam Alman (8 pts), Maddy Wescott (6 pts), Sam Surowiec (2 pts), Andrea Defina (2 pts), and Lizzie Markwarth (1 pt). Markwarth made her presence known on the defensive end and played her best game to date. Nicole Cobuccio, Sarah Larsen, and Paige McGaffigan didn't get on the board but made their contributions with hard work on defense. The Redmen full court press was working beautifully and the Rockets weren't able to get past half court for much of this game and Tewksbury cruised to their first win 35-22. 

TEWKSBURY 28 METHUEN 24
 On Sunday, the team hosted Methuen at the Wynn Middle School and they got on the board quickly with a 6-0 lead but Methuen didn't give up and kept this game close until the buzzer sounded. Shannon Vasas had 4 key points in the first half to help the Redmen maintain a slim lead at the half. Wescott (12 pts) got into first half foul trouble so started the second half on the bench and Methuen capitalized on this right away and got the ball inside to their forwards. In the second half it seemed like McGaffigan, Markwarth (3), and Surowiec (4pts) were everywhere as this trio made it impossible for Methuen to advance the ball. Their swarming full court defense was awesome and Surowiec's ability to go underneath the picks set on her allowed her to keep the
Methuen point guard in check and their offense in disarray. Defina, Nash, Cobuccio (1 pt), and Larsen played aggressive full court defense and the two teams continued to swap the lead. Alman (4 pts) was rewarded 2 foul shots and sunk one to tie the game again. The game was then played from the foul line as it continued to be a very physical and tough game. Both teams were in the double bonus so every foul was a chance on the line for the lead. Surowiec fouled out with 1 minute left and the Redmen had a slim 1 point lead. Whynot came in to fill the backcourt void and along with McGaffigan, Markwarth, Wescott, and Alman locked this one down. Alman stole the ball, got fouled, and made her first free throw, she missed her second but Wescott grabbed the rebound and sank a jumper with just 30 seconds left to give the Redmen a 4 point lead. The final score was 28-24 and the Redmen evened their record to 2-2.

5A

TEWKSBURY 37 MASCO 23

Tewksbury pushed their record to 4-0 with a 37-23 victory over a talented Masconomic team. Lizzy Gallella scored 10 points to pace Tewksbury while also providing constant pressure on defense. Hanna Knoops added 6 points while pestering Masconomic’s guards all game long. Isabella Desroache also scored 6 points while controlling the boards. Devyn Veits and Christine Santos each scored 4 points while displaying a strong overall game. Emily Chmela scored on a drive to the middle and also added a foul shot. Jess Pottito was tenacious on defense. Jessica Carredio continued to show a real knack for the ball sweeping up several key rebounds.

TEWKSBURY 29 WILMINGTON 16

Tewksbury had their first major test of the season against Wilmington, and answered the bell as they have all season with a 29-16 victory. Isabella Desroaches was a beast on defense and rebounds while adding 6 points. Jessica Caredio did a great job establishing her position in the post and scored 6 points including one on a great lay down pass from Devyn Veits. Lizzy Gallella led all scorers with 9 points. Christine Santos added two points while causing pressure on the low post and making several smart plays. Haley Mignon scored 4 points while aggressively taking the ball to the hoop and playing great defense. Hanna Knoops did not score, but did a great job facilitating the ball. Jess Potitto scored 2 points while providing great defense. Emily Chmela also played great defense.