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DERRY — Pinkerton junior Sarah Goodwin doesn’t typically compare herself to Ray Allen as a free throw shooter. “Today was kind of special from the free throw line for me,” she said, laughing after converting all 10 of her free throws. “I’ve never been known for my foul shots. So it was kind of nice to go 100 percent.” Goodwin, a 6-foot forward, was perfect from the foul line, scored 14 points and collected 10 rebounds in No. 3 Pinkerton’s 51-37 victory over No. 14 Salem in the first round of the Division 1 tournament. Goodwin and Pinkerton next play No. 6 Alvirne at home at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the tourney. “I actually did a lot of things today that I don’t normally do like drive (to the basket),” Goodwin said. “I had a couple of good drives. I’m kind of picking up what I should be doing as a big player offensively by getting the offensive put backs and driving strong. But I think defensively I wasn’t as good as I should have been today. I think I could have gotten some stops that I didn’t.” Goodwin had the difficult task of guarding Salem 6-2 center Jen Bujnowski, who netted 14 points, including scoring eight points in the fourth quarter alone. Salem was down by 17 points early in the second half but cut the deficit to six points at 43-37 with 4:52 remaining thanks to Bujnowski’s effort driving inside and scoring down low. But Pinkerton scored the final eight points and Goodwin converted all four of her free throws in the final 1:22. “(Goodwin) is a good player,” Bujnowski said. “She has really good defense in the paint. She knows where to be.” Goodwin was sort of later-comer to basketball. “I did recreational basketball, then I took a year off in middle school,” she said. “I didn’t try out my sixth grade year. So I’ve really only been playing competitively since seventh grade and I’ve only played AAU for two years now.”  Goodwin plays for the Shooting Stars AAU program. She said her dad taught her a great deal about basketball growing up. He played at Hillsborough, then attended West Point. Goodwin said he tried out for the basketball team at West Point but didn’t make it. “She’s learning,” Pinkerton coach Jon Barry said about Goodwin. “She’s a late bloomer. So she’s still learning. She does stuff and we have to correct it and work on it. But she works very hard in practice. So it would be nice if she could continue to play like this.” Goodwin is in her first year starting. She came off the bench for the Astros varsity team last winter. She put the game away with 1:22 when she rebounded a missed foul shot by a teammate, went up strong got fouled and then made both her free throws to make it 47-37. 

Salem shot well, rebounded well and got off to a quick start. But the key for the Blue Devils may have been their free throw defense! Manchester Central was a woeful 12 of 31 from the line and Salem rolled 52-38. Jen Bujnowski had 8 rebounds, Mikayla Rowell scored eight points off the bench and Sam LaRosa and Emily Hickey each had two 3-pointers in the first half in the romp.

In a battle of the LaRosa cousins, Aven and Timberlane Regional knocked off Samantha and Salem, 61-41, yesterday. Becky MacDougall paced the Owls with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Katie Matatall led all scorers with 19 points.

In a battle of the LaRosa cousins, Aven and Timberlane Regional knocked off Samantha and Salem, 61-41, yesterday. Becky MacDougall paced the Owls with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Katie Matatall led all scorers with 19 points.

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.

METHUEN — Pinkerton and Lowell went at it in different ways, but both routed opponents last night in the first round of the Greater Lawrence Girls Christmas Tourney at Methuen High School.

Jen Bujnowski scored 13 points with eight rebounds off the bench during Salem's 54-42 loss to Bishop Guertin

Freshman Emily Hickey earned a start in Salem's season debut and made it a memorable one with a six-point, five-rebound, three-steal effort to help the Blue Devils toa  61-22 cruise past Concord. Emily Righini led Salem's balanced scoring attack with 12 points and Jersey Burns added 10.