Tide girls’ basketball ends season with losses to Lowell, Marblehead

Everett misses the state tournament by just two games after gallant late season comeback effort

By Joe McConnell

The Everett High School girls’ basketball team (8-12) dropped four out of its last five games of the season to fall out of state tournament contention, thus missing a postseason berth by a slim two games. The Crimson Tide lost to non-league host Lowell last Thursday (Feb. 15). 46-43, before visiting Marblehead exploded past them, 57-33 Monday afternoon in another non-league encounter.

“It was a bummer of a loss against Lowell,” said coach Riley Dunn. “My girls played so hard, and it was some of the best basketball I have ever seen them play. They played together, executed their plays, responded to adjustments on the fly and never let up until the final buzzer. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish on top, but I’m so proud of their fight and performance against a solid Lowell team.”

Emilia Maria Babcock collected 10 points and five rebounds to help her teammates stay close on the scoreboard. Malaica Guillaume recorded 16 points and seven rebounds to do her part to put a scare into Lowell.

Dunn mentioned that Casey Martinez, Kaesta Sandy, Taisha Alexandre, Sonia Constanza Flores and Manal Bouhou were all credited with some major defensive stops to go along with making clutch baskets on offense that helped maintain the compete level throughout the contest.

The Everett girls then wrapped up the season at home with a loss against non-league Marblehead out of the Northeastern Conference earlier this week.

Babcock was the team’s leading scorer against the Magicians with 11 points. She also grabbed five rebounds. Guillaume chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds.

As a result of their sub .500 record, the Tide did not qualify for the Division 1 state tournament. The top teams in Division 1, according to the Feb. 20 state power rankings, are as follows: Bishop Feehan (16-4), Wachusett Regional (19-0), Springfield Central (15-3), Wellesley (15-4), Woburn Memorial (16-4), Central Catholic (16-4), Weymouth (17-4), Quincy (17-3), Lexington (16-4), Needham (14-6) and Bridgewater-Raynham (14-6).