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Gina Righini shot 5 of 7 from the floor in the last three minutes to seal the win for Salem 45-39 over Spaulding. Righini scored a team high 15 points and Jen Bujnowski scored 13 points with eight rebounds.

Clairee Putnam collected nine steals to go with her game-high 17 points as Windham blasted Pembroke 53-23.

The Greater Lawrence Tech girls got a late steal but couldn't get a buzzer-beater to fall and lost to Chelsea 36-35.

NORTH ANDOVER — For the first time in three years (Jan. 15, 2008), Pentucket has lost to a Cape Ann League team. North Andover used a stifling defense and a terrific all-around game from Erika Zahoruiko (17 points, 13 rebounds) to topple the Sachems, 38-31. “It was such an intense great game,” said North Andover coach Sue Breen after her club snapped Pentucket’s 45-game winning streak vs. CAL competition. “Our defense was incredible. We did it by committee.” One person couldn’t do it alone vs. a Pentucket team which was 6-0 and ranked 12th in the entire state by ESPN Boston. “I’m just so proud of them,” said Breen. “It wasn’t perfect, but we just had to find a way.” A key stretch came with 3:30 left in the third and Pentucket leading 22-20. Some slick passing by Zahoruiko, Caitlin Enright and Alex Medlock and two steals by Amanda Foote led to three straight layups. Zahoruiko scored twice and Medlock had the other hoop in the run. The Knights pride themselves on their defense, despite not having much size. “Enright maybe be 5-5 on a good day and Alex Medlock is 5-7. They were guarding players much bigger,” said Breen. In addition to Zahoruiko, sophomore Morgan Lumb (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks) did a little bit of everything. Coley Viselli led the Sachems with 13 points. North Andover is 5-3, but the losses were all close and to a tough threesome (Masconomet, Pinkerton, Lowell). Pentucket graduated a ton from last year’s team, which went 26-1 and lost in the Division 3 state final. That group enjoyed a brilliant 91-9 four-year run. But the Sachems got off to another terrific start to this season. North Andover, though, wasn’t intimidated. “They know if they play together, good things can happen,” said Breen. They certainly did yesterday.

Tough Stretch North Andover had lost four straight to Pentucket: Date    Score Feb. 1, 2010    Pentucket 51    North Andover    23 Jan. 30, 2009    Pentucket 52    North Andover 35 Jan. 8, 2008    Pentucket 48    North Andover 31 Jan. 9, 2007    Pentucket 46    North Andover 26

Nina Santiago had a double-double, scoring 12 points and 11 rebounds and Lawrence beat Haverhill 52-45. Santiago hit two 3-pointers during the game. Jessica Cotto led the Hillies with 11 points.

ANDOVER — Ms. Clutch Nicole Boudreau stole the basketball from her good friend, Central Catholic guard Gabie Polce, with less than 10 seconds remaining.  Boudreau tossed the ball ahead to Ally Fazio who avoided being fouled. Then, the buzzer sounded and the giant celebration began. Andover had won a nail-biter, 53-52, in front of a packed and boisterous home gymnasium — and everyone on the Andover bench stormed the court and celebrated better than most high school teams celebrate a state championship. The only thing that was lacking was a Gatorade bath for coach Jim Tildsley. That’s how much this rivalry means to these players on both squads. “Our rivalry is a huge,” Boudreau said. “It’s the most fun game to play of the year.” Central Catholic coach Sue Downer added: “I think this was probably one of the more physical, toughest high school girls basketball games in a long time.” There is no doubt about it. These are the two best girls basketball teams in the state — again.  Tildsley certainly gave high praise to Central. He thinks this Central team is even better than it was last year. And, yes, last year’s Central team had Katie Zenevitch, who now is starring at BC. “They are better than they were last year,” Tildsley said. “She (Downer) goes nine deep and they play great defense and their big kids are tough. (Casey) McLaughlin is a heck of a player. She’s a real, real player and (Melissa) Miller played well and (Gabie) Polce — they all played well.” Central is Andover’s biggest, toughest obstacle on its way to another state title. The Raiders have the talent, size and ability to exploit Andover’s lack of height inside with two tall stars in Miller, a 6-footer, and McLaughlin, a 5-11 sophomore. Miller (18 points, 16 rebounds) and McLaughlin (13 points, nine rebounds), at times yesterday, were able to score at will inside and out-rebound Andover at will. Boudreau was guarding Miller who scored eight points in the first quarter alone. “She killed me,” Boudreau said about Miller. “Let’s not say it lightly. She killed me. We definitely need to work on stopping them somehow. (McLaughlin and Miller), they work together really well ... and play well together. So they’re definitely hard to stop. But I definitely don’t think it’s (impossible) to stop them.  But they just killed us today.” Andover does have a lack of size. Its tallest player is 5-9 Mollie Maturah, a bench player. And Andover has had some trouble stopping tall center/forwards, including Lowell star Tess Cigliano who scored 23 against the Golden Warriors in the Greater Lawrence Girls Christmas Tourney. Tildsley’s team must compensate for its lack of height with its strong, full-court pressure defense. But will that be enough to stop Central come playoff time? We will have to wait to see. For now, I think we’re all looking forward to the next game between these two squads, which will be Feb. 7 at Central Catholic. “I don’t know if we feel so good tonight but I think in time we will when we digest how well we did do,” Downer said. “I said to them, ‘Ladies, we just played one of the best teams in the state and we are right there.’ And so we will build on that. We’ll build on all the positives that happened because there were certainly lots of them tonight.”

Junior guard Kayla Pellot poured in a career-high 30 points as Haverhill topped Worcester South 51-31. The Hillies improved to 6-1 ont eh season with 10 rebounds from 5-foot-11 center Molly Hoopes.

Kerry White's third double-double of the season (17 points and 13 rebounds) drove Windham to a 47-36 victory over Pelham. Great defense led by Kelsey Schiebel and Clairee Putnam also did the trick for Windham as Becca DeBaldo (16 points) was the only Python to break through.

Kaisha Rodriguez (12 points) and Jessica Goulet (7 points and 14 rebounds) were the driving forces in Whittier's commanding 65-25 victory over Lynn Tech. Christina Medaly (8 points) and Jennifer Hinds (10 points) joined Goulet as rebounding powers with 11 boards each. The Wildcat offense was fluid as they had seven players with seven or more points.

Shaking off a first-half shooting malaise that led to a seven-point deficit, Londonderry erupted for 25 third-quarter points to run away with a 61-49 decision over Spaulding. Lindsey Bolduc had six points in the decisive quarter and Jaime King scored all five of her points in the third to help the turnaround.

Nicole Boudreau scored a team high 24 points with four 3-pointers to propell Andover to a 72-51 win over Mt. Wachusett. Boudreau also had 10 rebounds and seven assists and Natalie Gomez-Martinez had nine points with eight rebounds, six assists, and seven steals.

Gabie Polce poured in 21 points, including netting two 3-pointers to lead Central to a 60-46 victory over Chelmsford. 

North Andover was leading Newburyport 31-28 at the half, but the defense held the Clippers to 11 points in the second half to win 55-39. Morgan Lumb scored a team high 21 points with seven rebounds, six steals, and five assists.

Hannah Guselli staved off a late Everett rally with a pair of clutch free throws, helping Haverhill run its winning streak to five games with a 41-37 triumph. Nathalie Nader was a force in the paint for the Hillies, pulling down 11 rebounds to go with eight points.

Lauren Hebert spent the past three games sidelined because of being sick but she was back yesterday and poured in 17 points in North Reading's 62-17 victory over Rockport. Hebert netted the only 3-pointer of the contest.  Kirsten Morrison also scored 17 points.