RallyNorth.net

MALDEN — After reaching the Division 4 North semifinals, Presentation of Mary Academy saw its season crashing to a halt before halftime.

Unable to successfully navigate the Manchester-Essex press, the fifth-seeded Panthers trailed by 17 points at intermission before dropping a 50-32 decision to the 16th-seeded Hornets last night at Malden High School. “We knew (the press) was coming,” first-year PMA coach Joe DeBlois said. “We reverted to our old ways. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but we just didn’t do what we’ve been doing the last few games.”

North Andover hit 50 points for the first time this year and did so with a balanced scoring attack that was led by Erika Zahoruiko's double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.  Julia Titone added nine points and the trio of Amanda Foote, Morgan Lumb and Katie Maroney each had four steals. Alex Medlock had a strong defense game and chipped in with four points.

Continuing a run of strong rebounding, 6-5 senior Alex Blane pulled down 12 boards in North Andover's 55-45 victory over Manchester Essex. Three Scarlet Knights hit double figures led by Tommy O'Connell's 18 points.

North Reading sliced a 22-point halftime deficit to 12 but could get no closer in a 71-52 loss to Manchester Essex. P.J. Dionne led North Reading with 15 points.

Kirsten Morrison jr. 

With a first quarter basket, senior guard Ashley Viselli became the first Pentucket female player to score 1,000 career points in the Sachems' 67-36 victory. Viselli joins Mike Iola, whose sister Lauren is a current player, as the only Pentucket athletes to achieve the milestone.

North Andover walloped Manchester Essex behind triple winners Danielle Tagarelis and Tori Frizelle.

GEORGETOWN — Eleven plays (10 on the ground by four different players), 60 yards, 6:45 off the clock. Those were the impressive numbers from Manchester Essex’s game-winning drive yesterday morning at Georgetown High School.

MANCHESTER — Whittier coach Kevin Bradley’s plan against Manchester Essex was simple.

Hold onto the ball.

“We wanted to keep the ball out of their hands,” Bradley said. “Everybody likes to talk about our passing game but we can run it too, I have a lot of confidence in the run game and it worked well today. We played smashmouth football on both sides of the ball.”

Pentucket's field hockey team had powerhouse Manchester Essex tied at halftime, 1-1, before finally dropping a 3-1 decision.

 "They've been killing everyone, but we played very well against them," said Pentucket coach Ruth Beaton. "We'll take this kind of effort any time."