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Central Catholic Raiders Girls Basketball '09-'10

Fri, Mar 05, 2010 04:15 PM @ Central Catholic
Team 1 2 3 4 OT Final
Andover 20 13 12 14 10 69
Central Catholic 14 7 20 18 6 65
Roger Darrigrand/Staff Photo Andover celebrates their overtime win over Central in Friday's Division I Sectional Finals at the TD Garden in Boston.  » Staff PhotographerMore photos

Andover loaded with heroes in OT win

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Saturday, March, 06 By Christopher Smith
Staff writer

BOSTON — Round No. 4 goes to Andover. And this was the most important round, on the biggest stage.

In the fourth meeting between the two teams this season, the Golden Warriors beat defending Division 1 champion Central Catholic 69-65 in overtime at the TD Garden to win the Division 1 North championship — thanks to the heroics of several players.

One of those players was sophomore Aly Fazio, who needed to convert at least one of two free throws with 8.8 seconds left in overtime to make it a two-possession game.

Her first attempt bounced off the rim. She then glanced over at teammate Natalie Gomez-Martinez who pointed to her heart.

"She was telling me it was all in my heart," Fazio said.

Fazio then looked at Dianna Bill, who pointed to her head.

"She was telling me everything is in my head," Fazio added.

Fazio somehow regained her focus, tossed up the second attempt and it sailed in to give Andover a four-point lead.

Central rushed the ball down the court and Gabie Polce attempted a desperation 3-pointer, which fell short. Nicole Boudreau, another one of the heroes, caught the Polce miss, dribbled up to halfcourt and and then chucked the ball straight up in the air in celebration and screamed as the buzzer sounded.

The Andover bench players mobbed Boudreau and the other four players out on the court as the entire team celebrated near the scorer's table.

"I don't even know what was going through my head," Boudreau said, chuckling. "They were the defending champions and we didn't want them to win twice in a row. It was just an amazing feeling to get the rebound and know we had beaten them."

Fazio added: "I'm more than excited. I was thrilled when we found out we were playing Central at the Garden. I guess Central makes us better. Natalie dribbling, and Courtney Williams is pressuring her. And they force Nicole to be tougher. And Dianna and Alex (Alois) they had to play strong on Melissa (Miller) and Katie (Zenevitch)."

Who gets the MVP of this one? It could go to several players.

Gomez-Martinez and Boudreau finished with 25 points each to lead Andover. Boudreau also had 11 rebounds and nine steals.

Meanwhile, Fazio had her second-best scoring game of the season with 11 points while adding a pair of steals.

The game went into overtime with some late-game dramatics by Central, which was down by six points with a minute and 27 seconds left in the fourth.

Central trailed Andover 59-56 with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but gained possession after Boudreau missed a free throw attempt.

Boston College-bound Zenevitch attempted a 3-pointer, which was no good. Miller rebounded and attempted two shots near the basket which both were off target. Zenevitch collected the rebound off the second miss, powered her way up and scored while getting fouled. She then converted her free throw with 1.9 seconds left to tie it.

Boudreau poured in a 3-pointer 52 seconds into overtime to give Andover the lead 62-59.

"They had all the momentum and then Nicole comes out and hits that three," Tildsley said.

Boudreau made some big plays down the stretch, too. She made a steal with her team ahead by just two points with fewer than 40 seconds left. She came down and hit one of two free throws to put Andover ahead three points.

Boudreau was then there to collect loose ball after a Zenevitch missed 3-pointer down the other end of the court with about 10 seconds left. She passed off to Fazio who got fouled and sealed the game from the line.

Fazio was very strong in the fourth quarter when the rest of her team struggled. She netted five in the fourth. hitting a 3-pointer to put her team up 51-47 and then bankingd off the backboard a hook-shot layup to give Andover a 57-51 lead.

Game Statistics:

Andover (69): Fazio 3-3-11, Gomez-Martinez 10-4-25, Caveney 2-0-5, Bill 1-1-3, Boudreau 8-6-25, Alois 0-0-0, Drivas 0-0-0. Totals: 24-14-69 

Central Catholic (65): Williams 3-0-6, Miller 5-1-11, Polce 5-2-12, Brillaud 4-0-8, Martin 1-0-2, McLaughlin 1-2-4, Zenevitch 7-5-20. Totals: 26-10-65 

3-pointers: CC — Polce 2, Zenevitch; A — Fazio 2, Gomez-Martinez, Caveney, Boudreau 3  

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