Andover girls win second straight Massachusetts Division 1 basketball title

Nicole Boudreau couldn't do it alone. Nobody wins two straight Division 1 state championships by themselves. Nobody talks about a three-peat without being surrounded by great players and great people.

Boudreau, Andover's junior guard and Gatorade Player of the Year, scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Golden Warriors outlasted Amherst-Pelham, 61-51, to capture their second consecutive MIAA Division 1 girls basketball championship on Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester.

Sounds routine for Andover (27-1). It wasn't.

Amherst-Pelham Regional, 22-3, played exceptional defense against the Boston College recruit Boudreau (7-for-19 shooting), and was tied at 47 with the Golden Warriors early in the final period.

But sophomore Devon Caveny, who along with sophomore Jackie Alois had been in foul trouble earlier, hit a 3-pointer with 5:12 remaining to give Andover a 50-47 lead. Caveney (14 points) and Alois (12 points, six rebounds) combined to score 21 of Andover's final 36 points; the winners closed the deal with a 14-4 flourish.

Senior point guard and Marist-bound Natalie Gomez-Martinez recorded 10 points, six assists and seven steals for Andover, which won its third title in nine years and also produced the Merrimack Valley Conference's ninth Division 1 championship in 20 years. Ally Fazio added seven points.

"Devon and Jackie stepped up huge," Boudreau told the Boston Herald. "We had total confidence that they could and we gave them the ball in situations, especially on pick and rolls for Jackie, where we knew we could get it to them and they would finish or get fouled. They won us that game in the fourth quarter."

So did the defense played by Andover at crunch time.

"We knew coming into the game that defense was how we were going to win," Gomez-Martinez said.

"Offense just comes. Defense, you have to have heart and physical aggression. When you have this close of a game, even if you're exhausted, you have to go all out on defense. We made big steals (23 turnovers forced for the game), we made free throws and it showed how when you want to win a game, it's all about defense."

Now it's all about title defense - again - and a possible third consecutive Division 1 championship. With Boudreau back for a curtain call in 2011-12 and Andover's underclassmen emerging as stars, anything seems possible.

"(Boudreau) is one of the top players to come out of Andover," coach Jim Tildsley told the Eagle-Tribune. "Put it that way. And who knows? She's got another year to go. Hopefully, she stays healthy and we keep going from there. She could be the top player without a doubt."

INITIAL TITLES FOR ST. JOHN'S, ARLINGTON CATHOLIC
The top-ranked St. John's Prep (Danvers) boys basketball team and the Arlington Catholic girls each won their first MIAA championships on Saturday in Worcester:

* St. John's Prep took down perennial contender and local favorite St. John's-Shrewsbury, 72-57, in the Division 1 final behind 29 points from Steve Haladyna and 25 from Pat Connaughton.

St. John's Prep (25-1) had far too much offensive depth, even for a defensive-minded team like St. John's-Shrewsbury. A 30-point outburst in the third quarter by SJP produced a 58-39 margin entering the final period.

"I wouldn't argue that point at all," St. John's-Shrewsbury coach Bob Foley told the Worcester Telegram. "We've been pretty successful in stopping other teams. (St. John's Prep) has so many weapons. We base our defense on helping out where we can and there isn't one kid over there who you can help off of. They have so many offensive weapons that we didn't have quite enough defensive weapons to stop them."

St. John's-Shrewsbury (21-6) dropped its third state Division 1 final in four years. The Pioneers beat Lynn English for the 2009 title, but lost last season and in 2008 to Lawrence Central Catholic.

* Arlington Catholic, which began the season a mere 4-3, won its first championship as it defeated hard-luck Millbury, 49-28, in the MIAA Division 2 girls final.

Arlington Catholic (21-6) got 16 points and seven rebounds from Emma Roberson in handing Millbury (23-2) its fourth state championship-game defeat in four years.

"We, as coaches and our team, in the beginning of the year — how do we rephrase it? — we really stunk in the beginning of the year,'' Arlington Catholic coach Dave Brady told the Boston Globe. "We've come so far.''

Arlington Catholic, which had to rally from 18 points down in the semifinals to beat Hopkinton, trailed 7-5 after one period, but took control in the second, scoring 19 straight points. A 20-6 surge in the third quarter produced a 44-16 margin entering the final period.

"Obviously we came out kind of slow, and in the last two games we've come out slow in the first quarter," said AC junior guard Nicole Catizone (11 points). "But we really kept our heads in it and just picked it up.''

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