RHS girls fall short in tourney
The Revere High girls basketball team put up a valiant effort, but came out on the short end of a 49-34 decision at Shrewsbury in the opening round of the MIAA Division 1 girls basketball tournament last Tuesday evening.
The Lady Patriots had entered the tourney as the #36 seed in D-1 with an 11-9 record, while the Lady Colonials were the #29 seed with a record of 8-12.
The contest was a much-closer battle than the final 15-point margin would indicate. Revere came out with a staunch and aggressive defense and made some hoops late in the first quarter to grab a 9-4 lead after the first period.
Shayna Smith scored the first bucket of the contest and Shrewsbury responded to knot matters at 2-2. However, with both teams displaying the usual early-game jitters typical of a first game in the tourney, the score remained at 2-2 through the first six minutes until senior captain Velma Belic broke the deadlock to give Revere a 4-2 advantage.
Moments later, Lady Patriot freshman Allyson Ollivierra sank a deep three from a few feet beyond the arc at the top of the key, giving Revere a 7-2 lead. Shrewsbury responded with a bucket, but Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and put-back before the period ended for a 9-4 Revere advantage.
Shrewsbury began to find its scoring touch in the second quarter, but the Lady Patriots still held a 14-12 edge in the waning seconds of the half. However, a costly Revere turnover gave Shrewsbury the final scoring opportunity of the half and the Colonials took advantage, sinking a three-pointer as the clock ticked down the final second to give Shrewsbury its first lead of the contest, 15-14, as the teams headed into the locker room at the intermission.
Revere continued to struggle on offense to start the second half, falling behind, 26-20, with 2:33 left in the third period. However, a bucket by freshman Valentina Cruz Martinez and a trey by fellow freshman Ollivierra brought the Lady Patriots within a point, 26-25, with 2:00 to go in the third.
But that’s when a crucial sequence befell Revere. A Lady Colonial answered back immediately with a triple, which was followed by two successive Revere turnovers that led to a pair of fast-break Shrewsbury buckets to complete a 7-0 run that boosted the home team into a 33-25 lead.
And to add insult to injury, a three-pointer by Lady Patriot captain Nisrin Sekkat was taken away thanks to a call for a moving pick, leaving Revere with an eight-point deficit at the end of three.
Both teams were unable to find the range through the first few minutes of the fourth quarter until a Shrewsbury bucket broke the ice to give the Lady Colonials a double-digit lead, 35-25, with 5:00 to play.
Velic made a superb, spinning move down low to bring the margin back to eight, 35-27, with 4:30 on the clock, but a Shrewsbiury bucket restored the lead to 10, 37-27.
Belma hit another hoop to close the gap to 37-29 with 3:00 to go, but a pair of Shrewsbury free throws kept the margin at double figures, 39-29.
After Ollivierra sank one of two free throws and Shrewsbiury made two from the stripe, Velic once again struck for a basket, slimming the deficit to nine at 41-32.
Two Shrewsbury free throws were offset by a pair from the stripe by Sekkat, leaving matters at 43-34 with just over a minute to play, but that would prove to be as close as the Lady Patriots would get on the night.
Although the outcome was not what the Lady Patriots had hoped for, the tourney loss does not take away from their successful season in which coach Ariana Rivera’s crew compiled a fine 11-9 overall record and finished in first place in the Greater Boston League’s North Division.
