Published January 21, 2021
By DAN NUNN
NORTH READING — Sophomore Faith Newton scored a career high 19 points to propel the North Reading High girls’ basketball team to an impressive 48–29 victory over the Georgetown Royals on Jan. 8. Junior Alyssa Demetri added eight points and senior captain Sarah Gerber pulled down 17 rebounds. The game was tied at 7-7 after the first quarter. But from that point on it was all North Reading as they closed the game on a 41-22 run.
Fall at Lynnfield 37-27
On Jan. 11, the Hornets traveled to Lynnfield to take on the rival Pioneers and suffered their first loss of the season 37-27.
“Our defense was solid all night but we just had a cold shooting night (8-for-51),” said head coach Bob Romeo.
Newton was the leading scorer once again with 13 points and Gerber was all over the backboards for the second straight game with 16 rebounds. North Reading got off to a good start and clung to a 12-11 lead at the end of one quarter but in the middle two quarters, North Reading was done in by cold shooting and were outscored 15-5 over those 16 minutes.
Tame Tigers 42-34
The Hornets returned to the win column with a 42-34 victory over the Ipswich Tigers on Jan. 13 to improve to 3-1 on the season. Led by freshman Bella Cannalonga’s 14 points (four 3-pointers), five rebounds, two assists and two steals, NRHS nailed a season high 9 3-pointers.
Demetri (nine points, three assists) and Brianne Slattery (nine points, three rebounds) also provided scoring help. Junior Rose Morelli (two points, five rebounds, two steals, Gerber (two points, 12 rebounds), junior Kayla Imbriano (six rebounds, three steals) and sophomore Halee Torra (two blocks) were key contributors on defense.
After a close first half, the Hornets held an 18-15 lead at the break. Things changed in the third quarter as North Reading outscored the Tigers 14-4 and opened up the lead to 13 heading into the fourth. Ipswich hit a few 3’s to keep it close to the end.
The Hornets (3-1) host Pentucket (4-0) on Friday night at 5:45 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s Div. 2 North championship that the Hornets won 41-36.
