Sports: Final Quarter Fall Off Ends Playoffs For Belmont Boys Hoops

March 6, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Point guards Classical’s Jaylen Johnson and Belmont’s Danny Yardemian.

For the first three-quarters of its sectional quarterfinals match with favorite Lynn Classical, Belmont High School’s Boys’ Basketball were not just holding their own against the Rams, they were taking the measure of their hosts.

During the Saturday afternoon matinee, on March 4, the 6th-seeded Marauders driving, dishing and overall hustle appeared to surprise the Classical players and coaches as Belmont kept a steady five-point advantage throughout the game.

But all the 24 minutes of great work against the Northeastern Conference champs ended up for naught as the Rams used their quickness and athleticism to outscore the visitors 19-7 in the final eight minutes to leave their home court winners, 57-50, and end Belmont’s post-season.

The Marauders finish the season 17-7.

“Both teams have their strengths, and they were able to create some turnovers in the fourth quarter and converted them into baskets. For me that was really it,” said Adam Pritchard, Belmont’s head coach after the game.

At tip-off, it was Belmont pushing the play with junior forward Tomas Donoyan scoring inside and outside along with a big block all in the first two minutes. It was then up to sophomore point guard Danny Yardemian to show off his smooth skills by twice brutalize Rams’ guard Erick Solis by driving the length of the court for a pair of baskets, part of his 6 point quarter and 10 point half.

On the other side, Classical had its sophomore point, Jaylen Johnson who matched Yardemian with six in the quarter.

A jumper from Belmont’s league all-star senior captain Paul Ramsey at the end of the eight minutes left the game knotted up at 14.

Pritchard added a little height to the game by injecting junior forward Jake Pollard who contributed by driving by the Rams’ big man Alek Bogavac followed by a 3 from senior Daron Hamparian gave Belmont the lead they would hold for most of the game.

The Marauders pressure gave Classical fits as they were hurrying shots offensively. The Rams one saving grace was a near magnetic attraction they had with the ball on the offensive boards, allowing for a number of second chance hoops.

Belmont was scrapping together baskets on their end with good ball rotation along with another Yardemian coast to coast bucket. A 3 from senior guard Bryan Goodwin gave the Marauders its biggest lead at eight, 34-26, in the final minute of the half. A late Classical hoop ended the scoring after 16 minutes at 34-28.

The third quarter was a slog, as both teams were trying to keep up the pace of the first half. Only the point guards were putting the ball through the net with Yardemian scoring seven to Johnson’s six points. After a three-minute stretch that the score remained at 41-34, Lynn Classical hit a pair in between Belmont’s final points by Yardemian to give Belmont a five-point lead, 43-38, entering the final stanza.

The fourth quarter soon became a clinic by Classical who swarmed the Belmont player with the ball and either caused a turnover or simply stole the rock. When Belmont ventured inside, the Rams’ junior center Edwin Solis – coming back from an injury – was grabbing rebounds and being fouled (he would go 4 for 4 from the line).

Just after midway through the quarter, Johnson, who ended with 17 points, made a layup to give the Rams and with it, the lead changes hands for the first time since the opening minute of the second quarter. Unfortunately for the Marauders, it was the final lead change of the game.

“We lost composure. They’re quick kids so when you try to dribble against them, and you throw floating passes, that’s what happens,” Pritchard said.

The next three Belmont possessions ended with the ball being stolen by the Rams. Yardemian’s 3 (he would end with a game-high 22 points) cut Lynn Classical’s advantage to 51-48 with two minutes to go, but the Rams’ would hit just enough shots from the charity stripe to head for the semifinals.

Pritchard praised his team that nearly always came to the court undersized but would outwork its opponents for the entire season.

“We’re proud of our players. They certainly didn’t disappoint their coaches and parents. We were probably not a team picked to be fighting in the state tournament. It was a lot of credit to our senior class to get here,” said Pritchard.

Sports: A Call For 3s as Belmont Girls’ Hoops Rip Triton, 62-32, in Playoff Opener [Video]

March 4, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Jenny Call after breaking the 3 point record in a playoff game with Triton.

The Belmont Fire Department should have been called to the high school’s Wenner Field House on Friday night as Jenny Call set the place on fire.

The junior co-captain shot the area-code J for seven 3s, breaking the school’s game record for the trifecta on her way to a season and game high 27 points leading the top-seed Marauders as it took apart the visiting Triton Regional Vikings, 62-32, in the quarterfinals of the Division 2 North sectionals March 3.

“It was like all the energy in the building really helped,” said Call about the large home crowd and loud student section.

“My teammates wee able to get me the open shots, so it was all about finishing,” said the three-year varsity player, who was named last week to the Middlesex League Liberty all-star team.

Somewhat lost in Belmont’s scoring outburst was the Marauders’ trademark stellar lock-down defense which limited Triton to a scant 13 second half points while placing the clamps on the Viking’s all-star senior center Tessa LaFrance who was held to 14 points with just a pair of baskets in the final three-quarters.

“We clearly wanted to limit [LaFrance’s] touches on the ball,” said Belmont’s Head Coach Melissa Hart. “That was the most plan-like thing we did besides just working really hard defensively and not giving up a lot of shots,” she said.

It was a tight start for Belmont, having to wait nine days since its last game, falling behind 5-4 midway through the first as LaFrance was Triton’s offense.

But then Belmont went on a 8-0 run over a minute with junior forward Greta Propp scoring a two plus one, junior point guard Carly Christfori drain the first of Belmont’s nine 3s and Call hitting a jumper while being fouled (Despite her record night, Call would go 0-5 from the charity stripe) for a 12-5 lead.

But a pair of 3s by senior Melanie Primpas and LaFrance cut the Vikings’ deficit to one, 12-11 before Call made the first 3 of her night to spur on a 7-2 run to end the first quarter with a 19-13 lead.

Belmont started the second with a Call baseline runner, and a Propp (6 points) layup off the inbounds put Belmont up by double digits, 23-13. LaFrance’s defense – with six blocks on the night – got the Vikings as close as 25-19 before Call ended the quarter with a bomb from outside to allow the Marauders to leave the court at the half up by nine, 28-19.

There were only two things to know about the third quarter, Belmont defense and”the run” sparked by Call. After she opened the half with a quick trey from the corner, sophomore guard Meghan Tan (and with Christofori, joined Call as a league all-star) who had been given the job of defending LaFrance, stole the ball and hit a pair from the line. Then Call’s rained in a pair of consecutive 3s that sent the student section into hysterics and the lead to 41-23 midway through the quarter.

For the remaining quarter and a half, Belmont increased the lead while frustrating Triton by out rebounding and hustling them up and down the court. The only suspense was if/when Call would break the 3 game record. And when she did, the stands erupted.

For Hart, the win was due to the team’s focused approach to the game which has been a hallmark of this season’s squad.

“I’m really proud of their effort [tonight]. It’s the same thing they’ve been doing every day at practice,” she said.

The win propels Belmont into the sectional semifinals against Arlington Catholic, the same team they met in last year’s semifinals which Belmont won.

Sports: Belmont Boys’ Basketball Wins Sectional Opener Over Chelsea

March 2, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont point guard Danny Yardemian.

Belmont High Boys’ Basketball’s Head Coach Adam Pritchard had one piece of advice to his team in their playoff opener against Chelsea on Wednesday, March 1.

“Everything is fast tonight,” Pritchard told the team early in the first quarter.

A simple enough request, but it would be the core of Belmont’s impressive 70-51 victory over the Red Devils of the first round of the Division 2 North sectional tourney.

The win advances the sixth-ranked Marauders (16-5) to a quarterfinals meeting with the third-seed Lynn Classical (18-3) on Saturday, March 4 at 2 p.m. in Lynn.

Wednesday’s game saw Belmont supply defensive pressure creating too many problems for the entertaining but sloppy Red Devils is it brought the ball upcourt. The Marauders put the accelerator on the offensive end allowing for fast break opportunities and open shots.

Leading Belmont was sophomore point guard Danny Yardemian who ran the offense while punishing Chelsea’s loose defense to sneak through for one of several clean breaks to the basket. He would finish with a team-high 19 points.

Just seconds after winning the tip off, Yardemian nailed a 3 and Belmont would never lose the lead. They upped the advantage to 10-2 with a putback from junior forward Tomas Donoyan (8 points) which forced a timeout by Chelsea’s coach Judah Jackson just two-and-a-half minutes in.

While Chelsea did pull back within three twice, the final time at 16-13 behind the Red Devils’ dynamic guard/forward Franklin Cruz (with a game high 20 points), Belmont senior guard Bryan Goodwin buried a three to double the lead to six at 19-13 with a minute remaining in the first.

Taking an eight-point lead into the second, 23-15, Belmont showed its range on offense with senior Daron Hamparian sinking a pair of 3s – two of five 3s he drilled as he ended with 17 points – the second with a minute to go in the second to give Belmont a 16 point edge, 37-21.

But Chelsea scored three hoops in the final minute, using its superior height inside and the great first step of Cruz to whittle the lead at the half to 37-27.

And the Red Devils would stay close in the third, but Belmont was out-hustling their opponents. When the Marauders needed to stop a mini-run by the Red Devils, senior captain and center Paul Ramsey – who was named a Middlesex League all-star this week – came up big, freeing himself under the basket for three buckets and a free throw for 7 of his 17 points.

The Marauders’ finished the quarter with a play that typified the game as reserve forward senior Noah Riley (2 points) outrebounded two Chelsea players on the offensive boards then bulleted a pass to senior Cal Christofori (4 points) for the layup and a 56-45 point lead.

The fourth quarter saw both teams revert to more standard half court games without the manic-style defense from the previous 24 minutes. Belmont would slowly inch ahead until the margin hit 20 points, 67-47, late in the game.

Hamparian said the win “shows just how much potential this team has and well we can do when we play as a team.” He said despite coming in with a height deficit, “we show a lot of heart to do this well especially winning rebounds.”

What can fans expect from the Marauders at the Saturday matinee against Lynn Classical?

“Running, running and more running,” he said.

Cushing Village: Demolition of Structures Completed, Dewatering To Begin

February 28, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: The site of the future Cushing Village.

The future location of Cushing Village has been cleared of the former buildings, and in-ground work will begin in the next few days, according to an update from a spokesperson for Toll Brothers, the developer of the 164,000 square foot multi-use project.

Otto Weiss, the project manager for Toll Brothers Apartment Living which is building Cushing Village, reported the first major phase of the project had been completed with the demolition of all but one of the structures at the construction site at the corner of Common Street and Trapelo Road.

The only remaining building is the one housing the Starbucks Cafe. But that will be tumbling down in about three months.

“We expect Starbucks will remain open until late spring [or] early summer this year,” said Weiss. “The date of the closing has not yet been established.”

Next up will be the placement of dewatering equipment which is already placed along Trapelo Road. It will be used to remove the ground water to allow for the construction of the garages and foundations of the three buildings to be constructed at the site.

And the first building to be excavation and the foundation construction will be for the Winslow Building which will be built on the former municipal parking lot. That will take place in the late spring.

In other news, the firm anticipates to be responding to public comments to the Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan in early March and uploading the plan to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection once these comments have been addressed, said Weiss.

Once the RAM Plan is uploaded to DEP, “we anticipate further excavation will begin. We anticipate this work will start by mid-March.”

Sports: Boys’ Hockey Takes on St. John’s Prep Wednesday in Playoff’s First Round

February 28, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont ice hockey

Belmont High Boys’ Ice Hockey knew they were heading to the Division 1 North playoffs for the past fortnight.

But like every other team in the same pool, the team needed to wait until late Monday night – only after a pair of games to determine the final teams entering the “Super Eight” tourney – to find out exactly who they would be playing.

Now it knows and the team they suit up against on Wednesday, March 1 in Chelmsfored won the 2015 state champions and runner’s up last year which plays a highly-competitive schedule and comes in on a hot streak.

The ninth-seed St. John’s Prep School of Danvers will take on eighth-ranked Marauders at the Chelmsford Forum at 5 p.m. A bus for Belmont High students is being provided to bring fans to the rink.

While ranked ninth, the Eagles (11-7-2), which competes in the tough Catholic Conference, are on a roll winning its last six games and going 8-2 in the final 10 games scoring 24 more goals then its opponants.

Last year, St. Johns’ Prep was defeated 2-1 in overtime to Malden Catholic in the top ranked “Super Eight” state championships. In 2015, the team won it all, defeating MC 2-1.

Belmont comes to the match with a 10-7-4 record, winning three of four games.

Sports: Belmont Boys’ Basketball Quietly Enters Playoffs After Cathedral Roadrace

February 26, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont’s Daniel Yardemian (center) being fouled by Cathedral’s Manny Green.

Can a 16-6 team quietly enter the playoffs?

Belmont High School Boys’ Basketball is doing just that, going about its business mostly under the radar as it enters the Division 2 North sectional tourney play on Wednesday, March 1 against Chelsea High School.

And that might be a good thing for the Marauders as opponents may overlook a team that played undefeated Division 1 powerhouse Arlington High close away to the SpyPonders, defeated City school Boston English, and took apart archrival and Division 3 North top-seed Watertown in the season while finishing second to the aforementioned SpyPonders in the Middlesex Liberty division.

“I really like this team,” said Belmont’s long-serving head coach Adam Pritchard a week ago. “We have an undersized center (senior captain Paul Ramsey) who I think is at least league co-MVP and just a lot of players who work well together. It’s a real scrappy team.”

That gritty style of play – regulars Cal Christofori and Ben Jones starred on the gridiron for the Marauders this season – was highlighted on Thursday when Belmont traveled to the bandbox gymnasium of Cathedral High in Boston’s South End to end the post-league season against the 14-4 Panthers who are the second seed in the Division 3 South sectionals and are expected to win not just the South but the Eastern Mass title.

Why put such an arduous task before his team as the playoffs loom, having ended the season on an impressive 6-1 run with wins over dreaded Watertown and a big tough team from Billerica on Seniors Night.

“How are you going to get better if you don’t play the best,” said Pritchard before the game as the court rocked with the stands filled with happy parents and classmates on the Panthers’ senior night.

“It’s loud like a playoff game. I want [the Marauders] to experience this atmosphere against a talented team,” said Pritchard.

It was a game that did not disappoint in competitiveness and for just plain ol’ hoops FUN. The first half was played at breakneck speed as both teams resembled Usain Bolt as they sprinted up and down the floor with the ball being heaved the length and breadth of the court and threes raining from downtown. All that was missing was Dick Vitale yelling “Oh baby! It’s prime time in Boston!”

That wide open play favored Belmont as sophomore point guard Daniel Yardemian used his quickness to open space to make the assist or drilling the J tallying scoring 14 points in the first, joining Ramsey’s 13 to allow Belmont to sprint out to a 29-18 first quarter lead.

The Belmont trapping defense where two and even three Marauders surrounded the Panthers’ guards bothered the hosts into committing a slew of turnovers and hurried shots which gave the Marauders’ the edge. Yardemian hit two of three foul shots for a foul on a 3-attempt followed by senior Daron Hamparian; the Marauders were cruising by 15, 46-31 with 4:20 remaining in the second.

“He’s really important for us. It’s something special when you have someone who was the freshman [team] point guard playing that position as a sophomore and doing it at this level,” said Pritchard of Yardemian.

But Cathedral wasn’t laying down for the visitors, going on an 11-0 run culminating in a 3 from NBA distance by the Panthers all-star senior guard Calvin Cheek, cutting the lead to 4 at 46-42 with 1:11 left in the half. In the final minute, Christofori scored all five of his second quarter points including a buzzer beating 3 to allow Belmont to hit the half with a seven-point lead, 51-44.

The third quarter saw it rain 3s for both sides as the Panthers’ kept running. Belmont was equal with the spurt as a Ramsey basket, and foul shot pushed up the lead to eight, 59-51, four minutes in the quarter. Cathedral then upped their game and behind Cheek took a 67-66 lead only for Hamparian to throw up his third of four 3s for the night to give Belmont its last advantage at 69-67 with less than a minute to go.

Cathedral High’s Calvin Cheek scored 31 points vs. Belmont.

But from that point it became the Cheek’s Show as the senior displayed a shooters eye, a command of the floor and a leader’s approach in coaching on and off the court, positioning teammates and yelling encouragement. He dished, drove and drained the key shots, in the first minute of the final stanza draining two from the charity strip and a 3 after stripping the ball to start the transition.

Before you knew it, the Panthers went on a 14-3 run as the hosts slowed the play and allowed its bump and grab zone defense to stifle Belmont to lead 83-72 with two to go.

Give Belmont credit for marshaling a spirited comeback. As Cathedral missed free throws to extend its lead, Ramsey and Yardemian hit driving hoops while Hamparian swished his final 3.

With Cheeks on the line and the Panthers up by 3, the game’s star faulted on both shots giving Belmont a final attempt to tie it up with a 3. But Yardemian’s contested fling was short with less than 10 seconds, and the Marauders fate was sealed, taking the fall, 86-81.

For Pritchard, the trip to the parking-challenged South End (hint: next year bring the Panthers to Belmont) was well-worth the effort and disappointment.

“For us, it was a really good preparation for tournament-wise and being in this atmosphere where you have to play through adversity. I thought our effort was there, so I’m not unhappy.

“We have things to work on, and we’ll have time to do those,” said Pritchard.

Sports: Girl Hoopsters Top Seed In Sectionals, Boys’ In At 6th

February 24, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Game against Melrose two months ago.

The Belmont High Girls’ Basketball team has secured the coveted number one seed in the coming Division 2 North sectional playoffs that begin next week.

The Boys’ squad has garnered the sixth seed and a first-round home game on Wednesday, March 1 at 7 p.m. against the Chelsea High School Red Devils.

Belmont Girls finished the season at 16-4, the same record as Wakefield High. The Marauders took to top spot via a coin toss.

With its .800 winning percentage, Belmont has earned a bye in the first round and will play its quarterfinal game at home on Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Triton Regional Vikings and the Marauders’ Middlesex League rival Melrose. Belmont defeated Melrose 42-31 in the first game of the season in mid-December.

If successful next Friday, Belmont’s semi-final match will take place early in the week of March 6. They would play one of four teams in the lower part of the bracket: #4 Pentucket, #5 Arlington Catholic, #12 Danvers and #13 Newburyport.

Belmont’s final loss of the season was a “heartbreaking” 37-35 defeat to Pentucket – the only Division 2 tream they lost to this season – on Feb. 19, according to Head Coach Melissa Hart.

The “one seed” is the highest playoff position Belmont has held in the past decade. The previous record were a pair of five seeds in 2015 and 2008. Last year, Belmont as the 10th seed made a heroic run to the sectional finals, defeating the 7th, 2nd and 3rd ranked teams before falling to Watertown (this season’s 3rd seed) in the finals.

Belmont Boys come into the playoffs with a 16-6 record (with a 15-5 counting towards the tourney) playing tough pressing defense and speedy offense. A win over the 13-7 Devils will see Belmont take on the winner of the third ranked Lynn Classical (18-3) and 12th seed Salem (10-8) later in the week.

Sports: Belmont Shares League Title After Rendering Reading Redundant, 57-51

February 18, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker 1 Comment

Photo: The bench and players on the court cheer what would be the game-winning basket from Greta Propp.

When Reading High’s sophomore guard Isabella Zagami hit an off-balance 3 pointer to tie its game with Belmont at 51 with less than 40 seconds in the game, it could have been a knife to the heart to the host Marauders.

But rather than dwell on what just occurred, Belmont immediately took the ball inbounds and grabbed the game by the throat and a championship into their hands.

Taking the ball from half court, sophomore forward Jane Mahon turned and headed directly to the basket. With a pair of Reading players stepping up to cut off her path to the hoop, Mahon lifted a soft, floating pass to a wide open junior forward Greta Propp who hit the easy bucket while being fouled.

“I said, ‘please, Greta, grab the ball,” said Mahon after Belmont (14-3) defeated the red hot (a nine-game winning streak snapped) Reading Rocket team, 57-51, to secure a share of the Middlesex League Liberty title with Woburn on Seniors Night, Thursday, Feb. 16.

In a game close from the second quarter on, the chemistry between the players on the court gave Belmont the victory.

“Our starters and those coming off the bench just have a great feel for the game and especially here,” said Belmont’s Head Coach Melissa Hart. She particularly praised sophomore off guard Meghan Tan for her standup defense and timely hoops.

“The hands that she got on the ball and the rebounds, she just made a lot of stuff happen.”

As her policy, Hart started all her seniors – the Haight twins, Reagan and Riley, Mary Kate Egan and the injured Margaux d’Arbeloff who came off after the tip – along with captain point guard Carly Christofori and junior Jenny Call. While Belmont fell behind early, 11-5 midway through the first, Hart noted it had less to do with the skills of the seniors rather the unfamiliarity of whom they were playing.

Belmont seniors: Riley Haight, Mary Kate Egan, Margaux d’Arbeloff and Reagan Haight.

Reading entered the second up by a surprising 11, 18-5, led by its young trio of underclassmen, sophomore forward Alyssa Pryputniewicz, junior Kathryn Nestor and the Rockets’ stellar sophomore Haley Lightbody who is making her mark with her quickness and shooting ability.

Belmont soon cut the margin within two minutes with an eight-point run from 3s from Tan and Call along with a pair of free throws from Christofori “who is such a stabilizing force,” said Hart. Belmont’s 17-8 quarter – highlighted by Mahon’s pair of jumpers – allowed the slow starting Marauders to trail the Rockets by two, 26-24, at the half.

The second act was much as the first, with a paper-thin margin between the squads with Belmont’s sophomore center Jess Giorgio (4 points in the third) and Propp (7 third quarter points of her team-high 13 points) led the Marauders while Lightbody kept the Rockets in the game despite of Belmont defensive press.

The game’s big breakout came as the teams prepared for the final stanza tied at 36 as Belmont went the Stephen Curry route as Christofori and Call hit 3s from distance to take a six-point lead into the final quarter.

Belmont would keep the lead at half-a-dozen for six of the eight minutes with a basket Tan – who earlier in the quarter scored on a 3 and made two critical assists – giving the Marauders a five-point lead at the two-minute-to-go point, 51-46.

But Zagami made Belmont pay for a lazy pass with a steal with Lightbody making the hoop with 1:35 left, now 51-48. The Marauders were nearly a victim of a second steal, but Reading fumbled the ball out-of-bounds. But a Call layup on a quick pass break was stuffed by (that person) Lightbody which soon turn into Zagami’s fleeting highlight moment.

After Propp’s hoop and free throw, Reading took a timeout to map out a sure thing play, but a momentary bobble by a Reading guard was pounced on by Tan who secured the ball to Christofori who would sink three of four from the charity stripe to secure the game.

“This team has a real confidence, we don’t get down when we are behind,” said junior guard Alexa Sabatino.

Next up for Belmont is a tough stretch of post-season matchups beginning with two games at the 2017 Spartan Classic starting Sunday against an excellent Pentucket squad with the second game on Monday. Finally, a rematch against Lowell, the only team to defeat Belmont other than Woburn.

“We want to play tough games because that will prepare us for the playoffs,” said Hart.

Giorgio, Quirk Named Boosters BHS Student-Athlete for January

February 15, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Jess Giorgio and Kevin Quirk.

Senior Kevin Quirk (Boys’ Ice Hockey) and sophomore Jess Giorgio (Girls’ Basketball) are the recipients of the Belmont Boosters BHS Student-Athlete-of-the-Month award for January.

Sponsored by the Boosters and in coordination, with the Belmont High School Athletic Department, each month a pair of varsity athletes are selected by an independent panel as a BHS Student-Athlete-of-the-Month.

Nominations are made at the end of every month by Belmont High varsity coaches.

Sports: Belmont Girls’ Hoops Swamp Watertown, 40-22, in Defensive Tour de Force [VIDEO]

February 13, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont’s Alexia Sabatino (Center #5) on defense against Watertown.

Since her freshman season when she took over the role of on-court leader, Carly Christofori has had to walk away five times on the losing end of a game against archrivals Watertown.

In each of the previous two seasons, great playoff runs by the Marauders ended bitterly against Watertown including in a tightly fought Division 2 North Sectional finals last year.

So when the junior all-star point guard walked into the Watertown High School gym Saturday afternoon to play a rescheduled game against her all-too-familiar opponent – she knows many Watertown players through AAU club games – Christofori’s focus was primarily on redressing past disappointments.

“For me, it was mostly about revenge,” said Christofori.”Getting knocked out of the tournament by them two years in a row kinda stinks. So [the team] wanted to show them what we are really made of.”

And did they ever. In what was a clinic on shut-down defense, Belmont (12-3) put Watertown through 32 minutes of hell, frustrating the team ranked 19th in the Boston Globe poll with pressure up and down the court that limited Watertown (12-3) to 12 points in the first three-quarters, swamping the archrivals, 40-22.

“Credit it to the hard work every single one of them did. They were kind of relentless everywhere. Just really good team defense,” said Belmont Head Coach Melissa Hart.

Throughout the game, Belmont prevented Watertown from running its half-court offense as the Marauders’ defense – which used ten players rotating throughout the match – was too quick and tall for Watertown’s four-guard offense to break.

Senior center Shannon Murphy, Watertown’s go-to offensive player, was kept in check by Belmont’s sophomore center Jess Giorgio, who was the Holy Cross commit’s equal under the basket in rebounds and points.

“Our goal was not to for (Murphy) to get the ball … and that is why we had so much success this time,” said Giorgio.

While Giorgio and teammates sophomores Jane Mahon (3 points) and Ella Gagnon kept Murphy off the boards, Christofori (a quiet 4 points) – partnered with sophomore Megan Tan and junior Alexa Sabatino (4 points) – made life miserable for Watertown’s point guards seniors Jenna McMahon and Alexis Catsoulis, bird-dogging the pair away from setting up Watertown’s offense.

After Murphy had scored the first basket of the game, Belmont took a 3-2 lead on junior forward Jenny Call’s 3, part of her 7 point night. Junior forward Greta Propp and Mahon (3 points) each made baskets and free throws to build a 10-7 lead after the first quarter. Propp and Call contributed to the defensive cause by sacrificing themselves to hard charges

Watertown was down by three, 12-9, on senior Alexis Catsoulis’ basket two minutes into the second, but that was a close as the hosts would come to Belmont. Over the next nearly 16 minutes – half of the game – Watertown would score a total of 3 points as the Marauders’ defense kicked into gear.

“We really worked as a team, and …tried to keep up the intensity, just be in their face,” said Sabatino, who hit a 3 to up Belmont’s lead to 15-9. A Giorgio drive by Murphy for two gave Belmont a 20-10 halftime lead, just part of the Marauders’ center’s six consecutive points run that bled into the second half.

Despite a series of adjustments by Watertown to generate shots from the outside, Belmont’s defense allowed just a pair of Murphy free throws over the eight minutes of the third quarter. The Marauders’ went six for six from the charity stripe and hitting four hoops, two from senior Regan Haight (4 points) to give Belmont a 22 point lead (34-12) at the end of the third.

Watertown is the second team in the Boston Globe Top 20 Belmont has held to two points in a quarter, following Wakefield which the Marauders ran away, 24-2, in the first quarter.

There was no coming back for Watertown as Propp, (who the Boston Globe identified as “Grata Tropp” in a game review), with a game-high 10 points, sealed the deal.

While the Watertown head coach stated in press accounts that Belmont’s overwhelming victory was made bigger than it really was by the players and their fans – and laying down a marker that the actual “biggest” game will be in the tournament – Christofori said it doesn’t depend on who the team meets in the playoffs, including a rematch with Watertown, the emphasis will be on the defensive side of ball “because it translates to our offense.”

“It’s an awesome feeling knowing that [our defense can] keep a team so good and so talented who scores in the 50s to keep them down so low,” she said.

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