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Andover beat Lawrence 60-26. Nicole Boudreau led the Golden Warriors with 15 points and Luz Brenz chipped in six points for the Lancers.

Methuen’s Rashidat Agboola had a huge night, scoring 26 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. The Rangers rolled too, defeating Salem 52-41 in the consolation bracket. The junior center appeared to be feeling much better after the flu sidelined her during Saturday’s loss to Lowell. Agboola showed off a nice shooting touch, at one point swishing a jumper from just inside the 3-point line.

METHUEN — Melissa Miller couldn’t help but look to the future. If Central Catholic can play like this without Katie Zenevitch, who’s still recovering from a broken hand, what will it be like when she returns?

METHUEN — Laura Pierce’s task was simple: Stay cool.

“It’s my job,” she said.

The junior point guard deftly guided Pinkerton to a 46-34 win over North Andover last night in the semifinals of the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tournament. She finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

HAVERHILL — A rematch, and a more important showdown, is likely in the Division 3 North tournament in two months, but Swampscott didn’t hesitate to celebrate last night.

After the Big Blue (6-0) defeated Pentucket 46-43 in the championship game of the Greater Haverhill Coca-Cola Classic’s girls tournament, it helped soothe the sting of three straight defeats over the last two years to the defending tourney champion Sachems (5-1).

Taryn O'Connell led Georgetown with 16 points and nine rebounds. Rachel Sherman added seven points and six rebounds.

"We forced a lot of turnovers, but we missed easy shots," Georgetown coach BarriAnn Alonzo said. "We didn't get to the free throw line enough.

The North Reading girls basketball team topped Shawsheen Valley, 44-25, in spite of only being able to muster three points in the opening quarter. It was a true team effort as no Hornets player reached double digits in points. Kristen Giddings, Kirsten Morrison and Tori Pearce each recorded eight points, and Morrison chipped in a team-high 10 rebounds.

Kirsten Daamen awoke with a monster second-half, tossing in 17 of her game-high 21 points after the break in a 55-45 Sachem victory.

Taryn O'Connell led Georgetown with 27 points and 10 rebounds in an opening round victory at the Hamilton-Wenham Christmas tournament over Saugus, 54-44.

Freshman Christina Medley pumped in 18 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, to lead the Whittier girls basketball team to a 61-31 victory over Greater Lowell. Jenn Hinds added 12 points and 13 points for the Wildcats.

North Andover finds itself in a drastically different place than it did last year at this time. After dispatching the Lancers with ease, the Scarlet Knights are 3-0.

“This is fabulous for us,” Breen said. “This is awesome. We’ll take it.”

METHUEN — At 5-foot-9, Jill Johnston is the closest thing Pinkerton has to a center. But what the senior lacks in size she makes up for in determination.

Her grit was on display last night. She scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Astros to a 70-57 victory over Andover in the first round of the Greater Lawrence Girls Christmas Tournament.

Ashley LeBlanc made the most of her first start, but Methuen fell to Lowell 53-44.

The sophomore center, who played in place of flu-bit Eagle-Tribune All-Star Rashidat Agboola, scored 10 points in the loss. She matched up with Red Raider 6-footers Whitney (10 points, 12 rebounds) and Brianna Wilson (14 points, 4 rebounds) all afternoon long.

The Timberlane Regional girls, outsized as they were, tried good old-fashioned hustle to overcome every hurdle against one of the top programs in all of Eastern Mass.

HAVERHILL — From the time they won the opening tip to the sounding of the final buzzer, Bishop Guertin thoroughly dominated Haverhill in the opening round of the 22nd Annual Greater Haverhill Coca-Cola Christmas Hoop Classic. The Hillies fell to their New Hampshire Division 2 foes, 45-20, yesterday at Haverhill High.