Olivia Matela and Faye Parker Lead Weekend Girls Bantam Sweep

St. John's Wins Big
December 1, 2012 At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Girls Bantams took on St. John's of Winthrop White. The game was never close as St. John's pulled away early for the win.

Faye Parker scored the first 12 points of the game and dished to Kayla Kornitsky to make it a 14-point run to start the game. Winthrop finally broke the run with a basket at the 11 minute mark but they could not match up with Swampscott as they pulled away. Parker had 12 points and 14 first half rebounds and Olivia Matela tossed in 10 points as Swampscott held a commanding halftime lead.

Things didn't get better for Winthrop in the second half. Fiona Herring got things started with an offensive putback and it was off to the races from there. Parker (8 second-half points) and Matela (6 second-half points) continued their dominance. Parker Leone ended the game with a jumper for the final score.

Faye Parker finished with 20 points and 20 rebounds. Olivia Matela tossed in 16 points with 8 boards. Emma Tomlins added 6 rebounds in the opening day win for Swampscott.

Matela Saves St. John's
December 2, 2012 At the Immaculate Conception School in Revere, the St. John's Girls Bantams took on IC Revere. After a fast St. John's start, Revere came storming back as Swampscott got into foul trouble. But Olivia Matela stepped up and made several clutch shots down the stretch to preserve a four point win for St. John's.

Fiona Herring got St. John's off on the right foot and Kayla Kornitsky followed with a steal and basket for an early 4-0 lead. After a made Revere free throw, Katie Watts answered back with a jumper for a five point lead just 2:35 into the game. By the halfway mark, Revere had cut the lead to three points as both teams settled in. An Olivia Matela drive was followed by six straight Faye Parker points as St. John's went on an 8-0 run to lead 18-7 with 1:56 left in the half. A late Revere comeback cut the lead to 18-13 as the half ended.

Faye Parker started the second half by hitting two free throws and then stealing the inbounds pass for a basket for a 22-13 lead. Just 33 seconds later, Olivia Matela hit a 3-pointer to make it 25-13 and St. John's appeared ready to make the game a blow-out. The momentum changed very quickly as Parker and Kayla Kornitsky each got into foul trouble and had to leave the game. This sent Revere on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 25-24. At this point someone had to step up for St. John's. It turned out to be Olivia Matela. She scored six straight points on two jump shots and a drive to the hoop to maintain a 33-31 lead with 3:55 left in the game. One of the smallest players on the floor, Katie Watts, came up with a huge offensive rebound and putback to make it 35-31 at the 3:19 mark. Both teams picked up the defensive intensity down the stretch before Olivia Matela finally put the game away. Her coast-to-coast drive with 1:34 left in the game made it 37-31 St. John's and they held on for a 37-33 victory.

Faye Parker (14 points) and Olivia Matela (13 points) each scored in double digits for St. John's. Fiona Herring grabbed six rebounds and Mary Miles played well on both sides of the ball as St. John's took their second straight victory.

St. John's Holds On for Win
December 1, 2012 At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Girls Cadets took on St. Joseph of Medford in their season opener. St. John's jumped out to an early lead and then held off a late charge for the win.

St. John's came out flying as they scored the first 11 points of the game. Hannah Leahy had 5 points and Gabby Lariviere added 4 points to open up an 11-0 lead with 9:41 left in the half. After a 3 point surge from Medford, Ellie Wright scored off an assist from Kendall Rhodes to get the lead back to double digits. But St. Joseph slowly chipped away and closed to within 5 points before Kasey Kennedy scored off an offensive rebound to make it 18-11 with 9 seconds left in the half. A late Medford free throw closed the half with St. John's up by six.

Jaymie Caponigro and Kendall Rhodes opened the half with drives to the hoop to get the lead back to 10 at the 13:59 mark. Gabby LaRiviere gave St. John's its biggest lead off a feed from Ellie Wright to make it 38-18 with 8:12 remaining in the game. But, just when it looked like the game was over, St. Joseph scored 13 straight points to close the gap to 38-31. After going scoreless for nearly 61/2 minutes, Elizabeth Weisse finally broke the string to make it 40-31 with 1:33 left in the game. Medford had nothing left. Two late free throws made the final score 42-31 for St. John's.

Jaymie Caponigro led St. John's by scoring all of her 11 points in the second half. Gabby LaRiviere led with 12 rebounds to go with 8 points.

St. John's Loses Heartbreaker
December 2, 2012 At the Immaculate Conception School in Revere, St. John's led early before Revere came back to grab a close victory.

Elizabeth Weisse opened the game with a jumper for an early St. John's lead. With the game tied, Kendall Rhodes and Jaymie Caponigro scored back to back to make it 8-4, St. John's with 9:21 left in the half. Swampscott extended the lead to nine points on a Weisse basket assisted by Veronica Rizzo to make it 14-5. Caponigro then scored the next six St. John's points to push the lead to double digits with 3:21 left in the half. A late Revere run made the score 23-16 in favor of St. John's at the half.

Revere made a big defensive switch to start the second half. They came out in a Box and One on Jaymie Caponigro who had 9 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist in the first half. But St. John's immediately took advantage, Ellie Wright got the ball to Gabby LaRiviere for a jumper to make it 25-16 to start the half. But over the next three minutes, Revere would score 12 straight points to take a 28-25 lead. Kendall Rhodes made Revere pay for their box defense by feeding Hannah Leahy for a basket to make it 28-27 at the 10:30 mark. Both teams matched baskets until Rhodes scored on a hook shot to give St. John's back the lead 31-30 with 7:53 to go. At the 3:33 mark with St. John's trailing by two, Gabby LaRiviere grabbed an offensive board and scored while being fouled. Her made free throw gave St. John's a 37-36 lead. The seesaw battle would continue as Revere retook the lead until Hannah Leahy tied it at 39 with 1:10 left in the game. Following a timeout, Caponigro fouled out with 23 seconds left. Revere made their free throws and hung on for a 41-39 win.

Gabby LaRiviere (12 points and 7 rebounds) and Jaymie Caponigro (10 points and 6 rebounds) led St. John's. Hannah Leahy added 9 rebounds as St. John's dropped to 1-1.

St. John's Can't Keep Pace
December 1, 2012 At the Swampscott Middle School, the St. John's Boys Bantams took on Sacred Heart of Lynn. St. John's fell behind and was never quite able to catch up with Lynn as they dropped their season opener.

Sacred Heart scored first but Simon Keough evened the game with a jumper at the 11:38 mark. Both teams struggled offensively early and Jake Goldman's basket with 3:51 left in the half made it a 9-6 game in favor of Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart then got hot and scored 8 straight points. Justin Ratner fed Ben Turner as the half came to a close to keep the Lynn lead to single digits.

Max Pegnato opened the second half with a basket and suddenly both teams started scoring. After a Ben Turner score, Pegnato followed with a conventional 3-point play to cut the lead to 19-15 with 12:45 to play. Everytime Swampscott would close the gap, Sacred Heart would extend it again, pushing their lead to double digits. Justin DeSalvo kept things close with two nice assists, first to Graham Templeman and next to Ben Turner to cut the lead to single digits with 6:41 to play. But Sacred Heart then went on a 13-3 run to put the game away.

Max Pegnato led St. John's with 10 points, Ben Turner had 8 points and 7 rebounds, and Graham Templeman added 6 points as St. John's fell in their season opener.

St. John's Falters
December 1, 2012 At the Swampscott Middle School, the Boys Cadets took on Sacred Heart of Lynn. St. John's held a half-time advantage but went cold in the second half as they dropped their opener.

Sacred Heart struck first but St. John's came right back. Back to back three pointers by Chad Swigor and Gavin Sullivan made it 6-2. Matty Moran followed with an offensive putback to push the lead to six with just 1:04 gone in the game. The hot streak continued as Ben Conner finished on a feed from Swigor and St. John's appeared to be pulling away. But the momentum then switched the other way. Sacred Heart started scoring in transition and went on a 9-3 run to retake the lead. Noah Carreiro put Swampscott back in front assisted by Sullivan to make it 14-13 with 8:24 left in the half. But a 7-0 surge saw Lynn retake the lead. Sullivan answered back with two more 3-pointers to give St. John's a 22-20 lead at the 2:24 mark. Max Emmerich pushed the lead to four with a beautiful pass to Matt Moran with 1:10 left. A late basket gave St. John's a 26-20 half-time lead.

Both teams matched baskets early in the second half. But Sacred Heart went on a devastating 17-0 run to take a commanding 39-28 lead. Chad Swigor ended a stretch of 5:06 without a basket with a 3-pointer to try to get St. John's back in the game. But it was not to be, Sacred Heart surged ahead for a 56-38 win.

For St. John's, Gavin Sullivan had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Matt Moran added 10 points in the opening day loss.