Sports
TMHS Girls Save Their Best For Last
Tewksbury High girls basketball team tops Methuen, 64-56 in final game at high school gym.
They shut down the old house in style.
In what should stand as the final girls varsity high school basketball game in the history of the Tewksbury High gymnasium, the TMHS girls basketball team came up with their best offensive performance of the season and closed out their 2011-2012 home schedule with a 64-56 win over Methuen High School.
Junior forward Nicole Chaet scored a season-high 21 points to lead the 9-9 Redmen, who have now fought their way back to the .500 mark after an 0-6 start to the season. Tewksbury has now won four straight games, and nine of its last 12.
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"I'm real proud of the girls and how they've continue to battle back," Tewksbury High coach Mark Bradley said. "I'm proud for our team to be 9-9 right now. It's a heck of an accomplishment."
The Redmen got back to level ground by putting together their strongest first half, and in particular, their strongest second quarter, of the season. Trailing 11-5 with 2:30 to play in the first period, TMHS strung together eight minutes of outstanding basketball, starting with a 6-1 run to close out the first quarter and pull to within one at 12-11.
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Tewksbury then proceeded to score 21 straight points in the first 5:30 of the second quarter, turning a one-point deficit into a 32-12 lead. The ball-hawking TMHS defense came up with five steals in that stretch, and held Methuen scoreless from the 0:27 mark of the first period to the 2:30 mark of the second.
Seven different Redmen scored two or more points during that run, with sophomore twin sisters Shannon and Sara Semenza doing most of the defensive damage to Methuen as Tewksbury employed a full court press that the visiting Rangers just could not solve. The Redmen outscored Methuen 25-4 in what turned out to be their highest scoring and most dominant quarter of the year.
"The second quarter was amazing," Bradley said. "We just clicked. We were on fire. I think we got their bigs in (foul) trouble a little bit, which is one of our goals. We were making shots and we were playing aggressive defense, forcing turnovers."
Unfortunately, a heavy dose of their own foul trouble slowed the Tewksbury attack in the second half, as starters Sara Semenza and Chelsee Porcaro, and freshman sixth man Shannon Smith, all had to sit down for extended periods. Semenza, the team's starting point guard, fouled out with four minutes to go and Smith picked up her fifth foul with three minutes to play. Tewksbury was whistled for 22 fouls in the game, 13 in the second half.
"That hurt us," Bradley said. "We've never faced that kind of adversity with that many fouls. Finishing the game without Sara (Semenza) in there was very difficult. We don't really practice a lot with Sheri (Liggiero) bringing the ball up, but she did a good job."
Liggiero's speed and ball-handling skills helped break a second-half press that had allowed the Rangers to pull within eight points on two separate occasions. And when Methuen resorted to sending the Redmen to the free throw line, Chaet took over and won the game from the charity stripe. Thirteen of Chaet's 21 points came from the foul line, including 9-for-12 performance in the final 2:22 of the game.
Chaet did all of that despite having to leave the game with a leg cramp midway through the fourth quarter.
"She is a trooper," Bradley said of Chaet. "She showed her true colors. She is a competitor."
Tewksbury's final total of 64 points represents their highest output of the season, and Chaet's 21 points was a season's best. Smith finished with 10 points, senior guard Katie Doherty had nine points and Sara Semenza added eight. Shannon Semenza scored six points, Liggiero and Porcaro had three each and both Caitlyn Morris and Amanda Cossar added two each.
In the end, Bradley walked out of his final home game at the TMHS gym feeling pretty good about what his team had done there this season.
"For us to be where we're at right now is a huge accomplishment," Bradley said. "But that's what Tewksbury kids are about. They're scrappy kids. They don't say 'I'm done.' That's what drives me to coach here.
"They know we're under-sized, they know we're under-manned, but they're athletes, and they're scrappy and they keep on working to get better," Bradley added. "They're lovable kids, they're coachable kids and they'll do whatever you ask."
The Redmen, who finished second in the Merrimack Valley Conference and earned a berth in the 2012 MIAA Division 2 state tournament earlier this week, now wrap up their regular season schedule with two games at the St. Mary's (Lynn)) tournament this weekend. Tewksbury faces North Andover Sunday at 12:30 in Lynn, and will play wither Melrose or Gloucester on Monday.
State tournament pairings will be announced on Friday, Feb. 24.
