Miles Sparks St. John's Win

Girls Bantams

Miles Sparks St. John's Win

January 19, 2013

At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Girls Bantams took on St. Pius of Lynn. Mary Miles had seven first half steals to ignite a late first half surge and St. John's never looked back as they cruised to the win.

St. John's couldn't find a basket early on and St. Pius jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Faye Parker broke the streak on an assist from Katie Watts with 6:12 to go in the first half. Defense would turn the game in St. Johns' favor. Mary Miles would come up with a steal and a basket to cut the lead to two. Faye Parker followed with another steal and then made an uncharacteristic length of the court drive to tie the game. For St. John's, Mary Miles was everywhere on the court. She had three more steals and fed Faye Parker to give St. John's their first lead of the game with 4:38 to go. If she couldn't get the steal, she was deflecting and disrupting the St. Pius passing lanes. Miles would then show her offense with back to back hoops to make the score 14-6 with 3:14 on the clock. Fiona Herring followed with an offensive putback and a shocked St. Pius team called a timeout. St. John's had poured in 16 straight points in less than 4 minutes to take the lead. St. Pius would come out of the timeout and score but St. John's didn't let up. Katie Watts banked in a jumper and Olivia Matela followed with a steal and basket to extend the lead to twelve. The half ended with St. John's holding a commanding 22-8 lead.

Mary Miles made sure there would be no comeback as she scored just 10 seconds into the second half. Fiona Herring followed with a layup to end a 10-0 run to put the game away. St. John's won easily 38-17.

For St. John's, Mary Miles was outstanding. She had eight points and nine steals. Fiona Herring added 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. With the win, St. John's improved to 6-3.

On Sunday January 21st, the Girls Bantams picked up a big road win and improved to 7-3 by defeating St. Adelaide of Peabody by a score of 30-28. More details will be available next week.

Boys Bantams

St. John's Wins Big

January 18, 2013

At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Boys Bantams took on St. Ann's of Peabody on a cold Friday night. St. John's heated up and went on an early 13 point run to put the game away and cruise to the win.

St. Ann's struck first before Simon Keough evened the game up with a jumper. From there, St. John's took over. Jake Bartram finished off a 13-0 run on an assist from Cole Cassidy to make it 13-2 at the 9:08 mark of the first half. St. Ann's would close the gap to five before Anthony Rakauskas executed a perfect give and go to Zach Elwell and then followed with an offensive putback of his own to make it 17-8. St. John's turned up the defensive pressure. Zach Elwell grabbed a steal and went in for a basket to extend the lead to double digits. Ben Turner's basket at the 3:55 mark made it 23-9 and the route was on. Max Pegnato fed Justin DeSalvo for a late basket and St. John's headed into halftime leading 29-14.

St. John's put the game away early in the second half as Jake Goldman and Ben Turner each scored twice to start the half with an 8-0 run. Any chance of a Peabody comeback was stopped by the play of Justin Ratner in the second half. He took over the game down the stretch. He tossed in 8 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Anthony Rakauskas added 4 points and 4 rebounds to secure the win for St. John's.

St. John's On a Roll

January 19, 2013

At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Boys Bantams took on St. Joseph of Medford. Ben Turner had 14 first half points to go along with 11 rebounds as St. John's took an early lead and rolled to a victory.

Simon Keough fed Max Pegnato as St. John's got the roll started. Three Ben Turner baskets on offensive rebounds and a putback by Cole Cassidy made the score 10-0 at the 10:26 mark of the first half. After a timeout, St. Joe's scored 4 points to try to make a game of it. Justin DeSalvo lobbed a pass to Ben Turner for a hoop and Jake Goldman added a jumper to push the lead back to double digits. But St. Joe's had no answer for Ben Turner who continued to come up with rebound after rebound. By the time Justin Ratner made a layup with only 6 seconds left, St. John's had extended the lead to 26-8.

The second half was more of the same as St. Joe's simply couldn't keep pace. During one 5 minute stretch, Justin DeSalvo hit a jumper, fed Anthony Rakauskas for a hoop, and then scored again to make it 44-20 with 4:15 left in the game. From there it was just a matter of closing the game out. Late baskets by Zach Elwell and Justin Ratner made the final score 52-23.

For St. John's, Ben Turner had a double/double with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Max Pegnato had 10 rebounds of his own. Jake Goldman(8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) and Cole Cassidy(4 points,6 rebounds, 3 assists) each had solid all-around games as St. John's improved to 6-3 on the year.

Girls Cadets

Leahy Carries St. John's to Win

January 19, 2013

At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Girls Cadets took on St. Pius of Lynn. Hannah Leahy willed St. John's to the win with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the second half to hold off a stubborn Lynn team for a 46-39 win.

Kasey Kennedy came out firing for St. John's. She hit a 3-pointer and then grabbed a steal and went the length of the court for an early 5-0 lead. After a St. Pius basket, Hannah Leahy scored off an offensive miss and was fouled. Her made free throw made it 8-2 at the 11:26 mark of the first half. St. Pius would cut the lead in half before St. John's would take over. They went on an eight point run keyed by back to back Ellie Wright baskets to pull ahead 16-4. Everytime St. Pius tried to comeback, someone else matched them. Jaymie Caponigro drained two free throws and then scored on an assist by Ellie Wright to extend the lead to 22-13. Gabby LaRiviere followed with a free throw to push the lead to double digits with 59 seconds left. St. Pius closed out the half with two late baskets to make the score 23-17 at the half.

Hannah Leahy and Kasey Kennedy both scored less than a minute into the second half to push the lead to 27-17. But St. Pius came roaring back. They scored 11 points in a row to take their first lead of the game at 28-27. Hannah Leahy took the lead back, first off an offensive putback and then on a jumper from the high post off a feed from Elizabeth Weisse to make it 31-28 with 6:55 to go. Jaymie Caponigro followed with a conventional 3-point play to make it 34-28. But St. Pius wouldn't back down. They countered with a 3-pointer of their own to cut the lead to 34-31. Leahy then came up with a big block on the defensive end and then took the ball coast to coast for another basket to make it 36-31. The game would stay close down the stretch as St. Pius closed within 3 points at 40-37. Eventually, St. John's would wear them down. After another Leahy basket, Kasey Kennedy hit a jumper, and Jaymie Caponigro followed with a turnaround jumper with a player in her face to make it 46-37 with 1:32 left. St. John's closed it out for a hard fought 46-39 win.

Hannah Leahy led St. John's with a double/double of 15 points and 16 rebounds. Jaymie Caponigro added 12 points to go along with 6 rebounds. Kasey Kennedy had 9 big points and Gabby LaRiviere grabbed 10 boards as St. John's improved to 7-2 on the year.

Rhodes Leads St. John's Over Peabody

January 20, 2013

At the St. John's Parish Center in Peabody, the Girls Cadets took on St. John's of Peabody. Kendall Rhodes sparked a late first half rally as Swampscott proved too much for Peabody.

Swampscott got off to a slow start as Peabody scored the first 5 points of the game. But Swampscott slowly crept back. Jaymie Caponigro scored on a drive, an offensive tip, and with two made free thows. Ellie Wright banked in a jumper and Elizabeth Weisse scored off a steal. But St. John's of Swampscott still trailed by two with 3:20 to go in the first half. Swampscott needed a lift and they got it from Kendall Rhodes. Over the next three minutes, she would take over both offensively and defensively. First, she grabbed a rebound and put it in for the score. She followed that with a steal(one of five she had in the first half) and took it to the hoop. She then came up with another steal and fed Hannah Leahy for a basket. By the time she drained a jumper as the half ended, Swampscott had taken command of the game back with a 24-13 halftime lead.

St. John's of Swampscott picked right up where they left to start the second half. Jaymie Caponigro made two free throws and Elizabeth Weisse followed with a long 3-pointer to make it 29-13. But slowly, St. John's of Peabody kept coming back. A 7-0 run cut the Swampscott lead to ten with 4:34 left in the game. After a Peabody time-out, Kasey Kennedy made a free throw and Elizabeth Weisse followed with two of her own. But Peabody kept coming and closed to 44-36. Swampscott would now go to their inside game down the stretch. Weisse fed Hannah Leahy to make it 46-36. After matching baskets, Leahy made 1 of two free throws to make it 49-38 with 1:34 to go. On the defensive end, Leahy came up with a block and then ran the floor to receive a pass from Gabby LaRiviere to make it 51-38. St. John's of Swampscott would close it out to make the final 55-40.

For St. John's, Jaymie Caponigro(14 points and 11 rebounds), Hannah Leahy(13 points and 9 rebounds) and Elizabeth Weisse(11 points and 6 steals) each finished in double figures scoring. Kendall Rhodes added 8 points and 8 steals as St. John's improved to 8-2 with the win.

Boys Cadets

Cold Shooting Does in St. John's

January 19, 2013

At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Boys Cadets took on St. Joseph of Medford. St. John's was held to single digit scoring in the first half on poor shooting and tough Medford defense and lost 41-30.

St. Joseph opened the game with a 3-pointer before Matt Moran got St. John's on the board off a Josh Allen pass. But Medford responded with a 10-0 run to open up a 13-2 lead. Back to back baskets by Gavin Sullivan and Jake McIntire cut the lead to 13-6 with 6:47 on the clock. St. Joseph would outscore St. John's 8-2 to finish the half with a comfortable lead.

After Matt Moran opened the second half with a bucket, St. Joseph roared ahead with 10 straight points to seemingly put the game away. St. John's began to make a comeback with 10 straight points of there own highlighted by a Gavin Sullivan 3-pointer to cut the lead to 31-20 with 8:14 left in the game. The game turned into a battle of momentum as St. Joe's came back with 9 points of there own. Down the stretch, McKeon Midland tried his best to bring St. John's back. He hit two jumpers, scored on an offensive putback, and dished out two assists to Brendan Bradley and Russell Hopkins. But it was not enough as St. John's simply ran out of time.