HAYDEN VALITON had 12 points and 6 rebounds in a state tournament game against Groton-Dunstable at LHS. (Shlok Kudrimoti Photo)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield High girls basketball team was edged, 39-37, by guest Groton-Dunstable in the Div. 3 state tournament preliminary round on Feb. 25.
With that defeat, the 30th-seeded Pioneers ended the year at 9-12.
Meanwhile, the 35th-seeded Crusaders ended up losing in their next game, 57-38, at Norwell last Friday night to end up at 13-9.
Except for an early Pioneer lead in the opening moments, the Crusaders led the rest of the night, although they had to hold on for dear life in the final couple of minutes.
Groton-Dunstable was up, 19-10, after the first half and 31-20 after the third quarter.
With 4:43 to go in the fourth, the Pioneers were down 33-22.
With 3:20 remaining, Maeve Wertz hit a 3 pointer to cut the deficit to 10 (35-25).
The Crusaders then scored to extend their lead to 37-25 with two minutes to go.
Wertz hit another 3-pointer with 1:52 left on an assist by Erika Pasquale.
After a forced turnover as the Pioneers were pressing, Wertz hit another 3-pointer with 1:26 to go to cut the lead to six.
Lynnfield then caused another turnover and Chloe Grieves hit a layup on another Pasquale assist at the one minute mark to make it 37-33.
Emma Rose made a steal and passed it to Grieves who assisted on Hayden Valiton’s basket with 49 seconds to go to make it 37-35.
The next 49 seconds were filled with deflections, fouls and a tie up with 18.4 seconds to go, but the possession arrow was with Groton-Dunstable.
The Pioneers fouled with 16 seconds and the Crusaders made one free throw to get the lead up to three.
Lynnfield then had a key turnover on their ensuing possession and fouled again.
After they missed the free throws, Rose got the rebound and passed to Valiton who scored with five seconds to go to cut the Crusader lead to one.
The Crusaders then got fouled on the in-bounds and made one free throw with 1.6 seconds to go. A desperation three-point attempt by Pasquale just over mid-court was no good at the buzzer.
“I give the kids so much credit for battling through adversity and for coming from behind and playing great situational basketball,” said Pioneers head coach Sue Breen. “They really showed a lot of composure. It was great to see their confidence grow but I just wish we had a little more time.”
Valiton scored 12 points and had 6 rebounds while Grieves had 12 points and a team-high 15 rebounds. Grieves also led the team in blocks with 5.
Wertz was third in scoring with 9 points.
Pasquale led the Pioneers in assists with 6.
Mackenzie Pauley led the Crusaders in scoring with 10 points.