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Central Catholic Raiders Girls Basketball '09-'10

Fri, Jan 08, 2010 07:30 PM @ Central Catholic
Team 1 2 3 4 Final
Andover 14 10 15 14 53
Central Catholic 6 14 20 15 55

Zenevitch steals show

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arl Russo/staff photo. Central Catholic's, Melissa Miller sails to the hoop as Andover's, Alex Alois (#33) defends in basketball action. Central defeated Andover 55-53. 1/8/2010.   » Staff PhotographerMore photos

Saturday, January, 09 By Christopher Smith
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — Swish. Swish.

Katie Zenevitch capped off a nearly perfect second half against rival Andover yesterday by netting two free throws to give Central Catholic a two-point lead with 6.5 seconds left.

Andover's Natalie Gomez-Martinez dribbled down the court quickly and passed to Nicole Boudreau whose 18-footer bounced off the rim.

Central players rushed to halfcourt, where they celebrated their 55-53 victory over Andover at a packed and rowdy Memorial Gym.

The Raiders snapped a five-game losing streak to the Golden Warriors dating back to Feb. 1, 2008.

And it took a 5-star performance from Zenevitch, who scored 35 points and grabbed 23 rebounds.

"Ever since (losing to Andover) in the Christmas tournament, I've been pumped to play them," said Zenevitch, who was recently named Eagle-Tribune Player of the Decade. "It's my senior year and this was one of our team goals just to beat them. I was just feeding off the crowd and the team and I came ready for the game."

Zenevitch received flowers during a pregame ceremony at center court for becoming Central's all-time scoring leader with 1,204 points. She had 1,239 points by the end of the game.

Zenevitch also grabbed her 1,000th career rebound during the third quarter and now has 1,011.

The 6-foot-3 center will be playing basketball at Boston College next year.

"That's a good day's work," Central coach Sue Downer said about Zenevitch's performance. "I'll take it. But this is her senior year. This is it. As I told her, this is the last time she'll play Andover here because if we see them in the tournament, I'm assuming it will be a neutral court. So this was it. This was it for her in front of her home crowd and she stepped up to the challenge."

Zenevitch said she felt confident at the free throw line with the game tied.

"I missed my first one (free throw) of the game and I was very mad at that," she said. Andover coach Jim Tildsley was upset because he did not think Zenevitch was fouled.

Three Andover players had their hands up triple-teaming the center who tried to get free near the 3-point line.

Then, the whistle blew. It was Andover's seventh foul, putting them over the limit.

"It was a great high school basketball game," Tildsley said. "It's just too bad it has to end like that. It's hard to believe when they play that hard. It's very, very disappointing. ... Referees, they shouldn't determine games. Kids should. And it's a shame. When you're that far away from the basket, it's an absolute shame."

Andover led 14-1 early and 24-11 with 3:22 left in the half.

But Central went on a 9-0 run to bring the score to 24-20 at the break.

Zenevitch dominated the third period when there were seven lead changes.

She scored 14 points during the third. She stayed strong in the fourth when she scored nine points, including a 3-pointer to put her team ahead 51-47 with 2:40 left.

Central was able to hold Boudreau to 10 points. It was the first time Central ever has been able to contain Boudreau who had scored 39 points, including a stunning 9-of-12 3-pointers, in the Christmas Tournament final and had netted 54 points in the two games against Central last year.

Tildsley said Boudreau sprained her ankle during the first quarter but played anyway.

"She was playing on one leg," he said. "She sprained her ankle. You saw us — we were up by 10 points right away. She sprained her ankle. I give her tons of credit for playing."

Game Statistics:

Andover (53): Fazio 3-3-9, Gomez-Martinez 3-5-11, Caveney 3-1-10, Boudreau 5-0-10, A. Alois 0-0-0, Drivas 0-0-0, Bill 5-3-13. Totals: 19-12-53

Catholic Central (55): Williams 0-0-0, Borrelli 1-0-2, Miller 3-1-7, Summers 0-0-0, Polce 5-0-11; Brillaud 0-0-0, Martin 0-0-0, McLaughlin 0-0-0. Zenevitch 11-11-35. Totals 20-12-55

3-pointers: A — Caveney 3; C — Zenevitch 2, Polce

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