RallyNorth.net

READING — Central Catholic survived 27 sectional quarterfinal turnovers against Lowell.

Last night here before about 1,500 fans in the Division 1 North semifinals, No. 5 Charlestown inflicted damage with each of Central's 26 giveaways, pounding out a 54-47 decision and earning a trip to Tsongas Arena for the North title game Saturday.

CHARLESTOWN — Jump shots, jump shots, too many jump shots.

Its interior offensive game simply extinguished by Charlestown's 2-3 zone defense, Andover High simply shot its way out of the Division 1 North tourney, falling in their first-round matchup, 72-52, here last night.

Molly Hoopes scored a career high 19 points with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks in three quarters of action as Haverhill dumped Charlestown 59-33.

Sophomore 5-11 center Allison Lahiff shined in her varsity debut with 10 points and eight rebounds to power Haverhill to a 61-25 win over Charlestown. Kayla Pellot led all scorers with 16 points and Jessica Cotto added 10.

CHARLESTOWN – Charlestown fired haymakers for 30 straight minutes, landing bomb after bomb with Pacquaio-like precision and ruthlessness.

CHARLESTOWN – A year ago, Methuen pushed Charlestown to the brink, leading by 12 in the third quarter before falling in their preliminary-round matchup.

Perennial power Charlestown was no match for Central Catholic, which rolled to a 76-42 state tourney victory. Jimmy Zenevitch and Joel Berroa combined for 33 points

Lindsay DiBurro tallied a career-high 13 points as Haverhill notched its second win of the season, pounding Charlestown 56-18. Nathalie Nader grabbed nine rebounds for the winners. 

CHARLESTOWN – It didn’t take long for Whittier Tech’s Tyler Page to deliver a haymaker yesterday. On the game’s second play, he rumbled up the middle for 38 yards, knocking over several Charlestown High defenders and a referee – the latter by accident of course.

Right now, the Charlestown High basketball braintrust is probably second-guessing its push to move last night's Division 1 North boys semifinal with Central Catholic out of Lawrence.

For the second straight year, the Raiders embraced Reading High like it was home, stunning the sectional's top seed, in this case the now 23-2 Townies, 74-63 in overtime to earn their sixth sectional final in the last eight years.