TAYLOR VALITON hits a jumper against North Reading on Friday night. The senior captain led the Pioneers with 10 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. (Shlok Kudrimoti Photo)

 

 

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

LYNNFIELD — Last Friday evening, the Lynnfield High girls’ basketball team lost, 37-29, at home to rival North Reading. With that defeat, the Pioneers fell to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the Cape Ann League.

The Hornets, meanwhile, improved to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the CAL.

North Reading led this one, 22-14, at the half. In the third quarter, the Pioneers cut the lead down to four but that was as close as they would come.

“We played even with them with the exception of a four-minute span late in the first quarter and early in the second,” said Pioneers head coach Sue Breen.

Taylor Vailton led the Pioneers in scoring with 10 points and she also had 11 rebounds. Maeve Wertz had 8 points and a team-high 3 assists while Hayden Valiton had 7 points and 4 blocks.

Freshman, Chloe Grieves, led the team in rebounds (13), steals (4) and tied Hayden Vailton in blocks with 4.

Sophie Gallivan led the Hornets with 15 points while Kiersten Higgins added 10.

In the consolation game of the David Green Memorial Tournament at Winthrop High on Dec. 28, the Pioneers defeated Winthrop, 41-36.

Lynnfield led 25-16 at the half and were up 36-21 after the third quarter. However, the Vikings chipped away and held the Pioneers to only four points in the fourth but ran out of time.

“We had good, balanced scoring,” pointed out Breen.

Taylor Vailton led the team with 9 points while freshman Olivia Braley added 8. Emma Rose and Hayden Valiton both scored 7 and Calleigh Caprio scored 6.

“Our defense was solid,” said Breen.

Winthrop’s Bailey Ferguson led all scorers with 20 points.

In the first game of the tournament on Dec. 27, the Pioneers lost, 53-43, to Stoneham. Stoneham ended up beating Gloucester, 60-46, on the 28th to win the tournament.

Lynnfield led, 23-19, at the half but the wheels fell off in the third quarter as the Spartans outscored them, 25-8, to go to the fourth up 13.

The full-court press by the Spartans caused several turnovers that led to some easy baskets.

“That was a bad third quarter,” admitted Breen.

Hayden Vailton, who was named to the all-tournament team, had 19 points and 10 rebounds while Grieves had a career-high 21 rebounds to go with 11 points. She also had 4 steals.

Taylor Valiton scored 6 points and pulled down 7 boards.

Ally Carpentieri led the Spartans with 15 points while Lila Bunnell was right behind her with 14.

Lynnfield hosted Essex Tech on Tuesday after press time. The next game for the Pioneers will be on Jan. 13 as they host Newburyport. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m.