Basketball scoring torch is passed at Coyle-Cassidy in Massachusetts

It was a gender-neutral night last Tuesday at Coyle-Cassidy High in Taunton.

Well, that's not entirely true.

The Coyle-Cassidy girls basketball game was the featured event, and the Warriors' marquee player, 5-foot-9 senior forward Brenna Gonsalves, was the star of the moment as she set a school record by hitting the 1,398-point mark for her illustrious career.

But the moment had an all-inclusive ring to it as well. The 15-year-old scoring mark that fell on Gonsalves' move through traffic late in the first half against Bishop Stang had previously belonged to a member of the Coyle-Cassidy boys team, Eric Ferris. Basketball is basketball.

Ferris, who achieved his scoring feat of 1,397 points in 1996, was part of the large crowd that witnessed the special event. Ferris was then summoned from the stands by Coyle-Cassidy coach Mike O'Brien to present Gonsalves with the game ball immediately following her historic basket.

Gonsalves, an Adelphi University recruit, scored 18 points in the game as Coyle-Cassidy, ranked No. 10 in Massachusetts in the MaxPreps Massachusetts girls basketball Freeman Rankings, improved to 15-2 overall with a 51-32 victory. The Warriors are expected to go deep into the MIAA Division 3 tournament next month.

"It's so amazing," Gonsalves told the Taunton Daily Gazette. "I didn't think I'd ever get to 1,000 points. It still hasn't hit me. The crowd went crazy when I scored the basket and it was just such a great atmosphere."

And a great moment for her coach. "(Gonsalves) is one of the hardest working kids I've ever had," O'Brien said. "I felt a father's pride. She's achieved her goals, which makes me very proud of her."

Gonsalves' 18 points in the game left her with 1,404 for her career. The play she scored the record-setter on came off a pre-designed set, one called Play 14, as in her uniform number. O'Brien called her number and Gonsalves' teammates delivered the ball.

Among Coyle-Cassidy's other contributors are senior co-captain and point guard Kelsey Dermody, senior Carly Turpel, and juniors Andreya DeSousa, Tricia Quinn and Missy Perry.

"I think they gave me a couple (extra) shots," said Gonsalves, a McDonald's All-American nominee. "They would never admit that but I think they were looking for me a little more than usual. They're great teammates."

ACTON-BOXBOROUGH WINS DUAL COUNTY SHOWDOWN
Balanced scoring proved to be one the decisive factors as the Acton-Boxborough boys basketball team (16-2) won the battle of Dual County League heavyweights with a 74-66 win against Westford Academy (15-2).

Westford's Mark Cornelius scored his team's first 12 points and finished with a game-high 28, but the work of Wes Scholl (20 points), Sam Longwell and Joey Flannery (17 apiece) and Kevin LaFrancis (16 points) was too much for the Grey Ghosts.

"I couldn't even tell you who our leading scorer was," A-B coach Rick Kilpatrick told the Boston Herald. "That's been one of our strengths. On any given night, any one of three or four kids can step up for us.

 "I was really proud of the guys," Kilpatrick added. "I felt like in the last four minutes, we executed really well. We ran the plays we wanted to run and I think that was a huge difference."

Acton-Boxborough also executed at the foul line, going 13 of 15 in the final period.

WOBURN HALTS READING STREAK AT 17
Woburn's Danielle Perkins hit a turnaround jumper as time expired last Friday, helping Tanners hand the Middlesex League rival Reading girls their first loss of the season, 53-51, on Senior Night at Woburn.

Woburn Memorial (15-1) had to play the latter stages of the third quarter and part of the fourth without Perkins, who had suffered an ankle injury. Earlier in the game, the Tanners also lost point guard Erin Marshall for the night to a leg injury, yet they still managed to overcome the loss of manpower and drop Reading to 17-1 for the season.

"When Marshall (usually) goes down and gets hurt in a game, she shrugs it off and keeps going," Perkins told the Boston Herald. "When she stayed down tonight, I knew something was up. I stepped up my game and did what I had to do."

As for her own injury, Perkins said, "it was just adrenaline that was keeping me going. I added more tape to it to keep it sturdy, because it was still sore."

Woburn was down by 51-48 with 22 seconds remaining before Gabby Parker hit a long 3-pointer to tie it. Parker then made the inbounds pass to Perkins that led to the game-winning shot. Katie Esquilin also hit a big 3-pointer for Woburn in the final period.

The Tanners of coach Steve Sullivan are looking for their first Middlesex League title since 1986.

MANSFIELD REMAINS UNBEATEN, STOPS FRANKLIN
In the first of a home-and-home set between undefeated Hockomock Kelley-Rex Division girls teams, Mansfield (16-0) went on the road and beat Franklin, 46-43, last Thursday night, as senior center Colleen Copley recorded 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

The two meet meet again Tuesday night in Mansfield. Franklin dropped to 13-1 with the loss, then lost again the next night to North Attleboro.

"It was a great game all around, and it was back and forth all night,'' Mansfield coach Mike Redding told the Boston Globe. "(Franklin) played extremely well and is a very good team. We're looking forward to more of the same from them (this week)."

Mansfield is the defending MIAA Division 1 South champions.

WESTFIELD PREVAILS IN WESTERN MASS.
In the battle for boys supremacy in Western Mass. and the top spot in the MassLive.com Media Poll, Westfield rallied from a large first-half deficit and beat Northampton, 66-62, before an overflow crowd of 1,300 at Westfield.

"This is the biggest rivalry in Western Mass.," Westfield's Alex Garstka (a game-high 20 points) told MassLive.com. "There's a very good possibility we will see them again. And we'll be ready. I like to play in these big games. It's a great feeling. We're looking forward to it again."

The two Suburban League rivals also met in the last season's MIAA Division 1 West semifinals at American International College. Westfield is now 14-1, Northampton 15-2.

"We're competitive rivals and we always want to beat each other, but we have a true respect for them," Westfield Bill coach Daley said. "We respect the way they play and I think they respect the way we play on the court."

Spencer Phillips and Jordan Santiago added 14 points apiece for Westfield while Grant Cooper (16 points), Jarrod Neumann (12), Jared Murphy and T.J. Devane (10 each) paced Northampton.

WHITINSVILLE CHRISTIAN TAKES DOWN SUTTON
Whitinsville Christian, the No. 4 ranked team in Central Mass, got a game-high 17 points from 6-foot-9 center Hans Miersma and 15 from sophomore guard Colin Richey as it snapped Sutton's five-game winning streak with a 48-36 win in Dual Valley Conference play.

Whitinsville Christian is now 14-2 overall, 10-0 in DVC play, while Sutton drops to 11-5, 9-1. A win by Sutton would have drawn the Sammies even with Whitinsville in the conference standings; instead, they fell two games back.

Only one player, Kayvon Lewis, reached double-figure scoring for Sutton, finishing with 10.

"It was just our (zone) defense buckled down when we had to," Richey told the Worcester Telegram. "(Sutton) didn't shoot a good percentage from the 3-point line. When they catch fire, they're dangerous." 

"We don't play (the 2-3 zone) often," WC coach Jeff Bajema added. "We're basically a man-to-man team. They love to shoot 3s. For us, they're tough to cover because they run so many sets."

PERFORMANCES OF NOTE
* Senior center Mitchell Jean-Louis of Brighton had 17 points and 20 rebounds while sophomore point guard Malik James scored a triple-double of 13 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a 60-59 win over Boston City South rival Dorchester.

* Senior center Mike Varrichione tallied a triple-double of 13 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocked shots in Xaverian's 60-37 win over Latin Academy.

* Chris Bush scored 21 points and became Taconic's all-time leading boys scorer when he hit the 1,303 point mark in a 54-49 win over Monument Mountain. The previous record holder was current Pittsfield St. Joseph coach Paul Brindle.

* At Dartmouth, freshman point guard Nick Simonetti had 34 points and hit the winning shot at the buzzer in double overtime as the Indians outlasted Taunton, 75-74. Also last week, Dartmouth senior guard Molly Brown scored 33 points, including the 1,000th of her career, in a win against Attleboro.

* Alexis Chappell of Sabis International (Springfield) notched a rare quadruple-double, finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 steals in a 94-25 win over McCann Tech. She also hit four 3-pointers.

* Revere senior forward Morgan Jenkins collected 30 points and 25 rebounds for her 16-0 team, which beat Lynn English, 67-60.

* Princeton-bound Blake Dietrick broke the Wellesley girls scoring record, registering 18 points to give her 1,286 for her career in a 68-34 win against Norwood. She set the mark on a 3-point shot with NBA 3-point record-holder Ray Allen (father of Wellesley's Tierra Allen) in attendance.

* Sophomore forward Saliah Serrette had 19 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks and three steals as Weston beat Bedford, 51-32.

* Chloe Rothman of Newton South recorded her first career triple-double (13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists) as the Lions improved to 16-0 in a 87-35 rout of Boston Latin.

* Sophomore center Jennifer Gemma finished with career highs in points (28) and rebounds (19) for visiting Fontbonne Academy, which knocked off previously undefeated Medfield, 60-58.

* Sophomore center Michela North blocked 22 shots and senior guard Devon Tsinzo nailed seven 3-pointers and scored 25 points in Duxbury's 60-32 win against Hanover.

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.