THE NRHS girls’ basketball seniors were honored before their win over Shawsheen Tech on Feb. 9. Pictured with their classmates are the three seniors, captains Caitlin Reilly (4), Bella Cannalonga (3) and Maggie Schulz (10). (Eric Evans Photo)
After press time: North Reading falls to Pentucket 37-33 (Feb. 14)
North Reading defeats Essex Tech 64-38 (Feb 15)
NORTH READING — On Feb. 8, the NRHS girls’ basketball team hosted Newburyport in a rematch of an earlier close win on the road for the Hornets and came away with a well-earned 47-28 win over the Clippers. In this rematch, North Reading used a big 15-4 second quarter advantage to open up a 26-12 halftime lead.
Once again, the story for the Hornets was a strong defensive effort against a much bigger Newburyport team that featured a 6’2” center. The Hornet defense forced 23 turnovers leading to 19 points.
Maggie Schulz and Allie Lanciani shared the defensive duty on the big Newburyport center, collectively limiting her to 7 points.
Bella Cannalonga (13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Sophie Gallivan (10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals), and Caitlin Reilly (8 points, 3 rebounds, 5 steals) led the scoring for North Reading.
Returning right back into action the following night, North Reading hosted Shawsheen Tech on Senior Night and the three senior captains, Cannalonga, Reilly and Schulz made sure that they took care of business in front of a large crowd. Once again, strong defense led to offense as North Reading jumped out to a 20-1 first quarter advantage and never looked back on route to a 61-17 win.
Reilly (17 points including 5 3-pointers), Cannalonga (10 points, 5 assists), Kiersten Higgins (8 points, 3 steals) and Addie Hajj (6 points, 7 rebounds) led the way as North Reading had 13 players get into the scoring column including first career varsity points for sophomore Sara Suny and freshman Kate Denehy. Senior team manager Kristen Galvin was also honored on senior night.
“It was great to see our three senior captains enjoy a big win on senior night,” said head coach Bob Romeo. “The three of them have put in so much work leading our team so to see them be honored tonight in front of a big home crowd was very enjoyable.”
North Reading hosted Pentucket yesterday after press time. They travel to Essex Tech tonight at 5:30 p.m. and host Stoneham in the season finale on Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m.
