By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield High girls’ basketball team just missed qualifying for the Division 3 state tournament by one win as they finished 8-10 overall. In the Cape Ann League, they went 4-9 as they came in 5th place in the CAL Kinney Division.
Two seniors from that team graduated: Lucy Cleary and Abby Adamo. Cleary was a CAL Second-Team All-Star.
When practice started on Nov. 28, second-year head coach Sue Breen welcomed back seven veterans. Two of those veterans are this year’s senior captains, point guard Bella George and forward Maggie Ozanian. George was a CAL First-Team All-Star last winter as she led the team in scoring averaging 11.6 points per game. She also averaged five rebounds, three steals and two assists per game.
The two juniors back are Ava Gamache (guard) and Jaelynn Moon (forward).
Taylor Valiton (forward), Erika Pasquale (guard- forward) and Emma Rose (guard) are the three 10th-graders returning.
The two other new players are senior forward Charlotte Radulski and sophomore guard Amelia Newmann.
“It has been easier this year than last when I was just getting to know the players,” pointed out Breen, about the first week of practice. “Having seven players back helps.”
The Pioneers will play a 20-game regular season this season as they play the Kinney Division teams twice and the Baker Division schools once. They will play seven non-league games as they face Gloucester and Shawsheen Tech twice. They will also play Melrose, Ipswich and Manchester-Essex once (they play league games against Ipswich and Manchester-Essex as well).
“We lost two good players but, with our experience, our goal is to make the states,” said Breen.
Lynnfield visits Gloucester on Dec. 9 in the season opener at 6 p.m. They then go to Manchester-Essex on Dec. 13 with that contest starting at 6:30 p.m.