Bad break doesn't hurt Woburn girls in Massachusetts

The Middlesex League is not the easiest place in the world to play. In fact, the parity at the top can be outright brutal.

So what do you do if you're the Woburn Memorial girls basketball team, and your leading scorer goes down for four to six weeks at midseason with a broken hand?

Break out a couple more star contributors.

After suffering its first loss of the season to undefeated Reading earlier in the week, Woburn faced the daunting task - less leading scorer Katy Knight - of taking on another Middlesex rival with a perfect record, Stoneham.



The Tanners responded by getting 22 points from Erin Marshall and 21 from Danielle Perkins in a 58-53 win against Stoneham on Friday, allowing them to keep pace with other leaders in the league's super-competitive field.

Perkins hit four of five shots from 3-point range for Woburn (8-1) while Marshall went 13-for-13 from the foul line in the second half. Woburn shot 87 percent as a team from the foul line for the game.

"Free throws, layups, couple of breakdowns are the difference between winning and losing, and we had a lot of girls really step up," Woburn coach Steve Sullivan told the Boston Herald.

Ariana Tuccelli and Alison Brennan scored 12 points apiece for Stoneham (9-1), which trailed 56-53 with eight seconds to play before Woburn finished the job. Shannon Maguire added nine points and eight rebounds for the winners, who were beaten by 16 points three days earlier by Reading, which is rated No. 4 in the state in the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings.

But that's to be expected in the Middlesex League, where the top three teams - Reading, Stoneham and Woburn - began the season with a combined 19 straight wins. And that's not even including defending MIAA Division 2 North champion Melrose, which has won numerous league championships in past seasons. Reading Memorial, Stoneham and Woburn all won 16 games or more a year ago, while Melrose went 20-4.

"We've always had good parity in the league,'' Melrose coach Robert Ferrante told the Boston Globe. "This isn't the first time there have been three good teams in this league. It's not uncommon."



ST. JOHN'S-SHREWSBURY BOYS LOOK UNBEATABLE
It's going to be tough for anyone in Central Mass to beat St. John's (Shrewsbury).

St. Bernard's is ranked third in the region and sports one of the area's top scorers in John Henault, but the Bernardians were no match for St. John's Friday night as the Pioneers scored a 69-46 victory.

Though St. John's, No. 4 in the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings, has lost three games, all three came during its early-season trip to Washington, D.C., where it lost to Good Counsel, Chantilly (Va.) and host Gonzaga in the Gonzaga D.C. Classic.

Senior forward Richard Rodgers scored 22 of his 25 points in the second half for St. John's (9-3, 3-0 Central Mass Conference). Junior center Matt Palecki and senior forward Ryan Kelley scored 11 each for the Pioneers.

Henault (25 points) proved to be dangerous from long range, as did several of his teammates. But only for so long.

"St. Bernard's has a very good basketball team, and we knew they like to take the 3s," St. John's coach Bob Foley told the Worcester Telegram.



"We were all over them when they took those 3s, but they buried them. But as the game went along, I think our defensive intensity, which we had early, and the fact that they (the 3-point shooters) may have gotten tired, helped us.

"I thought Matt Palecki was outstanding," Foley added. "If the ball goes on the floor, you know he's going to get it. He's a good rebounder, hustles on defense and finds a way to get open. He balances off Richard Rodgers very well. And Matt Harrington was great as our floor general."

MUSSACHIA, MANCHESTER ESSEX STUN NORTH ANDOVER
Amherst College recruit Joe Mussachia, a 6-foot-6 senior guard, produced of the season's top performances as unranked Manchester Essex beat Cape Ann League rival and 17th-ranked North Andover for the first time in nearly three years, 67-60.

Mussachia had 26 points, 34 rebounds and seven assists for Manchester Essex (8-3) while junior guard Sean Nalley scored 15 points and contributed 11 assists.

"This is an awesome feeling,'' Manchester Essex coach Duane Sigsbury told the Boston Globe. "North Andover has dominated the Cape Ann League for years. We only have 400 kids in the school — they have 1,300 kids. It took a total team effort and a community effort for us to win.''

Of Mussachia, Sigsbury said: "He's a captain, everyone looks up to him. He does a great job on the floor leading by example and keeping them calm."



Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}JONES, COHASSET BOYS FINALLY STOP ABINGTON
Though Cohasset was on a torrid run - eight straight wins - to start the season, it had lost 26 in a row over the previous 13 years to South Shore League rival Abington.

The Skippers finally laid the latter streak to rest Friday night at home by beating Abington, 74-62, and improving to 9-0 for the 2010-11 season.

"It was 13 years of futility against a very, very good basketball-tradition town," Cohasset coach Bo Ruggiero told the Quincy Patriot-Ledger. "When you finally (end the drought), it's an historical win."

Robert Jones, a senior guard, led the Cohasset effort by scoring a game-high 30 points.

PERFORMANCES OF NOTE
* Senior goalie Derek McInnis made 33 saves and senior Austin O'Connor scored game-winning goal at 4:11 of the third period as the No. 4 Hingham boys hockey team edged No. 1 Malden Catholic, 2-1, before a sellout crowd at Pilgrim Arena.

* Jake Layman of King Philip produced one of the state's top basketball outings of the season, recording 39 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots blocks in his team's 72-71 win against Canton.



* Shawn Brown became the second current Avon player to top the 1,000-point plateau for his career during a 76-69 win against West Bridgewater. Last season it was Saleek Marshall who surpassed 1,000 points. Brown scored 31 points in the West Bridgewater victory while Marshall added 20.

* Center Tyrik Jackson had 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, and forward C.J. Dowdelll added 15 points and four blocks in a 78-52 win by Charlestown against Latin Academy. Akosa Maduegbunam (17 points on 7 of 10 shooting) also excelled for the Townies (8-1).

* Chris Bush scored a game-high 21 points, had nine rebounds, two assists, a block and two steals to lead the Taconic boys basketball team to a 52-42 victory against Sabis at the Hoophall Classic at Springfield College.

* Somerville (7-1) was led by juniors Johnson Thomas (26 points, 12 rebounds), Billy Bonnett (22 points) and Kevin Silva (13 points, 12 assists) in a 86-72 win over Medford in Greater Boston League play.

* North Middlesex moved to 7-1 overall behind 13 points and 20 rebounds from Matt Foley in a 65-63 win over Shrewsbury in overtime.

* The Andover girls (11-0) continued to roll. Nicole Boudreau had 26 points, seven assists and eight steals, and Natalie Gomez-Martinez registered 20 points, eight assists and 11 steals in a 78-50 inter-state contest against Barrington, R.I.



* Sophomore guard Jennifer Gemma produced her seventh consecutive double-double (17 points and 14 rebounds) and added six steals in Fontbonne's 46-28 triumph over North Middlesex.

* Nick Lund posted a triple-double for Rivers in Independent School League play as his 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocked shots led to a 53-40 win against Middlesex.

UPCOMING
* The undefeated New Bedford girls basketball team, No. 3 in the state in the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings, should be tested this week as it faces Big Three opponents Brockton and Durfee (Fall River).

Jim Stout is the CBS MaxPreps Media Manager for the Eastern U.S. He may be reached at 845-367-2864 or at jim.stout@cbsinteractive.com.