Winthrop High Sports Roundup

Amazing win for Vikings over Revere

The Winthrop High boys basketball team posted a victory that will be remembered for years to come with a 61-57 triumph over Revere Tuesday evening.

“It was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever been a part of,” said WHS head coach Mike DiMarino. “The game had it all and I’m very proud of the way the team fought back and overcame adversity to bring home a win.”

The Vikings were the clear underdogs coming into the contest, having recorded just one win on the season, while Revere sported a 6-4 record and is making a run for a state tournament berth.

However, a Winthrop-Revere encounter in any sport always seems to spring some surprises and this one proved no exception from the outset.

Winthrop jumped out to an early lead and continued to build their advantage throughout the first half, paced by Jeff Laguerre (who had 13 points in the opening two periods). Winthrop eventually opened up a 39-21 bulge with 45 seconds to play. That’s when a fire alarm sounded, forcing the evacuation of the Revere High’s Merullo Fieldhouse. Winthrop returned undaunted and sank a bucket before the half ended to leave the floor (this time for the locker room) with a 20 point lead.

However, the Patriots came out fast and furious after the intermission and sliced the Viking lead by more than half, to 49-40, at the third buzzer. Winthrop was hampered by the loss of Laguerre shortly into the third period when he suffered an apparent bruised knee, forcing him to sit out the rest of the game.

Revere continued to maintain its momentum into the fourth period and moved out to a 55-51 advantage with about two minutes to play. But that’s when sophomore Jake Chiudina stepped up and treated Viking fans of a certain age to a Larry Bird-like performance. Jake first drained a three pointer and then stole the ball from the Revere point guard and went in for a layup, turning the game around completely within a span of a few seconds and giving Winthrop a 56-55 lead.

“Jake came through in a big way for us,” said DiMarino. “He showed great composure for a sophomore and did it all for us.”

Winthrop never yielded the lead from that point, parlaying the combination of some tough defense and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch. Josh Babb and Ervin DeJesus both went 2-for-2 from the foul line on their 1-and-1 attempts in the waning moments (Winthrop shot a nice 14-of-16 from the charity stripe on the night) to pull out the emotion-draining victory.

DeJesus led all scorers with 17 points, followed by Laguerre with 13, and Babb and Curtis Lockett with 10 apiece.

“It was a great atmosphere against one of our traditional rivals,” said DiMarino. “We kept fighting and kept executing and never gave up, even when they took the lead. We’re beginning to mature as a team and we’re looking forward to the second half of our season.”

The Vikings will face two of the best teams in the Northeastern Conference this week, traveling to Salem Friday and then hosting Lynn English Sunday at 3:00.

Winthrop then will trek into the big city Wednesday to take on Snowden Academy, the only Division 4 team on the Vikings’ schedule. A victory will qualify Winthrop for the post-season state tournament.

Lady Vikings edge Revere, 33-31

The Winthrop High girls basketball team bounced back from their first losses of the season last week to Peabody and Lynn English, a pair of rivals from the North (Large) Division of the Northeastern Conference, to slug out a down-to-the-wire 33-31 victory over Revere, another NEC Large foe,  Tuesday evening.

“This was a big win for us,” said WHS head coach Ignacio Oyola. “We had not been playing well in our two losses, so it was important for us to stop our slide. It still was not our best basketball, but we did what we had to do to win it.”

Both teams went at each other from the opening tip with full court presses. But the more-experienced Lady Patriots, who came into the game with a 7-3 record and feature two of the top players in the NEC in senior guard Gena Restiano and senior forward Caitlin Caramello, bolted to an early 9-2 advantage.

“At first it was beginning to look like our games with Peabody and English,” said Oyola, referring to those two contests in which his Lady Vikings fell behind early and never got back into it. “But we settled down and cut their lead to three by the end of the first period.”

With the defenses basically dictating the tempo (both teams scored just seven points each in the second frame), Revere held a slim 19-16 advantage at the intermission..

The second half saw more of the same, with Winthrop upping the ante defensively by switching almost exclusively to a man to-man press. The Lady Vikings held Revere to just four points in the third frame, but put in just six themselves, leaving matters at a nearly even 23-22 to start the last period.

Both teams picked up the pace offensively in the final eight minutes. Stepping up for Winthrop were their front-court duo of junior Temison Meggison and sophomore Kristen Siscamanis, who each scored five points to combine for 10 of the Lady Vikings’ 11 points in the period.

The Winthrop defensive effort continued to frustrate Revere, led principally by senior captain Alyssa Mackey and soph Nikki Tsiotis, whom Oyola assigned to cover Restiano.

“Alyssa and Nikki are our two best man-on-man defenders,” said the coach. “They did a great job on Gena throughout the game.” Mackey made one of the key defensive plays of the contest with about 1:30 to go when she timed a three point shot attempt by Restiano and cleanly blocked it, giving the ball back to Winthrop.

The final minute saw Revere still clinging to a 31-30 edge. Winthrop’s stellar guard, Ashelyne Babb, drew a foul as she was driving the lane, but missed the front end of her 1-and-1. However, Meggison, who was immense all night on the boards, grabbed the offensive rebound. Oyola called a timeout to set up an inbounds play. The Lady Vikings worked it to perfection, with Siscamanis shaking free for an open shot at the net and Liana Ferullo giving her the pass.

With Winthrop now ahead 32-31, Revere missed its next shot. Siscamanis snared the carom and was fouled.. Kristen sank her first FT to make it a two-point game. Revere came down again looking to tie and got a good shot, but fortunately for Winthrop, the ball rimmed in-and-out. Siscamanis secured the rebound and time ran out.

Meggison paced Winthrop in scoring with 10 points and led the way off the glass, pulling down 14 rebounds. “Temison was amazing,” said Oyola. “She deserved the game ball tonight.”

Siscamanis ended up with seven points, followed by Nikki Tsiotis with six, Ferullo and Theresa Jones with four apiece, and Mackey with two.

Oyola and his crew, who now stand at 8-2 at the halfway mark of the season, will travel to Salem, another NEC Large foe, on Friday and then to Somerville, a non-league opponent from the Greater Boston League, on the holiday Monday. The Lady Vikings will return home next Friday to host Beverly.

Three WHS girls win events vs. Danvers

The trio of Michaela McCarthy, Holly Benson, and Amy Sena captured first place in their respective events last Thursday for the WHS girls indoor track team in their meet against Danvers that was held in the Marblehead facility.

McCarthy leapt to victory in the high jump, clearing the bar at 4-10. Michaela later in the meet took second place in the mile in a time of 6:38.8.

Benson dashed to victory in the 600 meter event, clocking home in 1:57.3. Sena took first place honors in the 1000 meter run, crossing the line in 3:31.5.

Lady Viking shotputters Ashley Jurovich and Elizabeth Anderson contributed to the team’s cause by scoring points in two events. Ashley grabbed second in both the shot with a toss of 30-0 and the 55 meter hurdles in 10.7. Elizabeth took second in the shotput with a throw of 27-11 and then sprinted to a third place finish in the 55 meter dash in 8.3.

Three Lady Vikings contributed three points to the Winthrop side of the scoresheet with second place finishes: Jordan Griffiths in the 300 in 49.7; Julia Wallace with a high jump of 4-10; and Abigail Love with a 14:44 in the two mile.

The girls will face Marblehead today (Thursday).

Girls hockey team falls to Marblehead

There are some games that just are not meant to be, and such was the case for the Winthrop Lady Bulldog hockey team Saturday evening in a 7-4 loss to Marblehead, an opponent with whom Winthrop has developed a bit of a rivalry in recent years.

The contest was a classic see-saw battle from the opening face-off. Winthrop spurted  to an early 2-0 lead, much to the delight of the large crowd on hand (who came out in support both of the Lady Bulldogs and the special Pink the Rink Night fundraiser for the Marie Petrilli Fund that assists breast cancer patients). Kara Donati (assisted by Caroline McKinnon and Ariana Dembro) and Flora English (assisted by Annie Mahoney and sister Emma) potted the Winthrop goals.

However, Marblehead got one back with about a minute left in the period which would prove to be the first of four unanswered Lady Magician tallies that left the visitors with a 4-2 advantage at the second horn. Two of the Marblehead goals were of the “bad bounce” variety, one when the puck changed direction coming off the boards, the other on a high deflection off a Winthrop girl.

However, Winthrop came out firing on all cylinders in the third period and soon notched the equalizers. McKinnon (assisted by Donati and Dembro) and Julianna Kennedy (assisted by Donati) took turns lighting the lamp for Winthrop.

“We had a good talk in the locker room between periods and when we scored two goals to tie things up, we figured we had the momentum on our side,” said Winthrop head coach Anthony Martucci.

However, the momentum reverted back to Marblehead when the visitors capitalized on a pair of rare Lady Bulldog mistakes in their own end. An empty netter in the final minutes accounted for the 7-4 finale.

“Marblehead played well and their goalie was solid,” noted Martucci, referring to Winthrop’s shots-on-goal advantage of 59-18. “Overall we played a good game and controlled the play , but we made some key mistakes that cost us.”

The Lady Bulldogs were set to be back  in action tonight (Wednesday) at Masconomet and will host Medford Saturday evening at Larsen. Face-off is 5:00. Martucci and his crew will trek to Watertown for a 1:00 encounter Monday afternoon on MLK Day and to Cambridge next Wednesday.

Corbett-Frank wins dash in Danvers meet

Jordan Corbett-Frank outdashed all rivals to capture first place in the 55 meter sprint for the Winthrop High boys indoor track team in its meet with Danvers Thursday. Jordan raced to victory in a time of 7.1 seconds.

The lone other individual point scorer for the Vikings was Marc Bouche in the 600 meter dash, taking third place in a time of 1:53.3.

The boys will face Marblehead today (Thursday).