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Nogueira, Pentucket top Central Catholic

Monday, February, 20 By Christopher Smith

LAWRENCE — Pentucket 6-foot center Tess Nogueira has had some trouble finishing around the basket this winter, and she wasn’t the only one on the team.

“Coach Mac (John McNamara), coach Beaton, they are both out there with the pads slamming us when we are taking our layups (in practice) and we’ve had to run a lot after missed layups,” Nogueira said. “I think we’ve finally got it into our heads that we need to finish.”

Lesson learned.

Nogueira finished extremely well last night while pouring in a season-high 19 points in a 59-41 victory over Central Catholic in the championship game of the Board 130 Basketball Classic.

Nogueira also collected nine rebounds and was named tournament MVP. She netted 29 points in two tourney games.  

“Tessie, we have always been on her to finish in practice and now in games she has definitely come forward and is definitely one of our better players,” Pentucket’s Sarah Higgins said.

It was a performance that, if she can duplicate in the tournament, could lead the Sachems to another deep postseason run.

“It’s always nice to score more points but it’s all about the team,” Nogueira said. “And if I have more assists than points in a game, I’m fine with that. I just try to get the ball moving. If I score points, it’s great.”

Central has been dealing with injuries. Caitlin Dell’Orfano (ACL injury) is out for season. Eagle-Tribune Super Teamer Casey McLaughlin (knee) had been out since Jan. 5, but played a few minutes off the bench in the second quarter yesterday. Still, it was a quality win for Pentucket despite Central’s injury problems.  

“It’s always a great feeling to beat a team that everyone thinks is better than you,” Nogueira said.

Higgins added 13 points and collected nine rebounds.

“Sarah’s always an aggressive player,” Nogueira said. “She gets the team going. She’s very high energy. That’s always good to play around.”

Higgins said she had trouble scoring at the beginning of the year.

“Because I was putting too much pressure on myself,” she said. “And the coaches just kept telling me that my game would come. Once I started to not worry about scoring as much, it came to me. I definitely relaxed.”

Central coach Sue Downer said McLaughlin will return gradually.

“So I thought we’d throw her in a couple of minutes here and there today to maybe get her over the mental hurdle of coming back in,” Downer said.