Sports
Tewksbury Girls Can't Stop Chelmsford
Lions, undefeated in MVC Division 2, roll over Redmen 53-28.
Every once in a while, theacts it age.
Such was the case Wednesday night as the youthful Redmen ran into a red hot and determined Chelmsford team and suffered a 53-28 loss in their final regular season game of the 2010-2011 campaign.
The Lions' outside shooters were on fire from the opening tip-off, jumping out to leads of 7-0 and 22-9 in the early going. Tewksbury, which started two freshmen, two sophomores and one senior, couldn't find a way to shut down Chelmsford's veteran line-up.
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"Our shots didn't fall and they (Chelmsford) started making shots," said Tewksbury High coach Mark Bradley. "As a young team, our girls started thinking they couldn't fight back from that. I guess that's just the youth in us."
To be fair, few teams, young or old, could have stopped Chelmsford's junior sharp shooter Jen Janiak on this night. Janiak staked the Lions to an early double-digit lead by swishing five straight three-pointers in the first half. Janiak, who averages 15 points per game, led all scorers with 17 points in just three quarters of play.
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"Chelmsford played well, they were on fire," Bradley said. "But we didn't do a good job defensively, either. We didn't have an answer for (Janiak). We gave her too many open looks."
Janiak's 17 and another 10 from junior guard Alena Breton in the first half added up to a 27-12 halftime lead for Chelmsford. Tewksbury could only muster seven points in the third quarter and at 40-19 after three periods, it was time for both coaches to empty their benches.
led Tewksbury with eight points and sophomore forward Nicole Chaet added seven. had five points and five rebounds while junior guard Sherri Liggiero had four points. Sara Semenza and Katie Doherty added two points each.
The loss puts a dent in Tewksbury's momentum as the Redmen head into the MIAA state tournament with a 7-15 record. TMHS had won six of its last eight games and played extremely well in the Spartan Classic at St. Mary's of Lynn over the long weekend.
"How do you play that well in a quality tournament on one night and come back and play like this a few days later?" Bradley asked. "I guess it shows we've still got a lot of work to do."
The MIAA state tournament pairings will be announced on Friday. Tewksbury will most likely be playing a road game early next week.
