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Schools

Two Big Wins For Tewksbury High Basketball Teams [VIDEOS]

TMHS girls get first win of the season; TMHS boys win back-to-back games for the first time in years.

This winning thing is starting to get a little contagious.

Just four days after the ended a three-year home losing streak with a convincing win over Chelmsford, the Tewksbury High girls basketball team responded by picking up their first win of the 2011-2012 season, topping Notre Dame Academy, 47-19 Tuesday night.

Not to be outdone, the TMHS boys went up to Haverhill and earned their fourth win of the season,  knocking off the Hillies, 63-56, on Tuesday. For the boys, it was the first time in at least three years that Tewksbury High has won back-to-back games.

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GIRLS GET FIRST WIN

led all scorers with a season-high 19 points as the hard-working Redmen pressed Notre Dame all over the court, forcing more than a dozen turnovers and capitalizing on many of them.

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"It wasn't pretty but a win is a win," "I thought the girls came ready to play. We got off to a good early lead, which is something we should do against this team. We're not playing four full quarters of good basketball yet, but it was nice to see glimpses of what we can do."

Chaet scored 10 of her 19 points in the first half as TMHS jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the error prone Lancers, and led 14-1 at the end of the first quarter. Freshman forward Shannon Smith scored four of her season-high six points in the second quarter as Tewksbury extended its lead to 24-7 at the half.

Notre Dame never threatened in the second half as Bradley cleared his bench and Tewksbury coasted to its most convincing win of the season.

"It was nice to get Nicole (Chaet) going again," Bradley said. "She was attacking the basket. Shannon Smith did a nice job, too. She's been steadily getting better and better."

Sophomore guard Sara Semenza had a strong all-around game, scoring 10 points and constantly disrupting Notre Dame's offensive sets while on defense. Sheri Liggiero, Shannon Semenza and Chelsee Porcaro added four points each.

Tewksbury, now 1-6 overall and 1-4 in the Merrimack Valley Conference, hosts Haverhill Friday night.

FOLEY LEADS BOYS TEAM TO LANDMARK WIN

scored a career-high 16 points while senior guard Bobby Lumbard added 13 as the Tewksbury High boys went back-to-back for the first time in at least three years. It is believed to be the first time TMHS has won back-to-back Merrimack Valley Conference games in close to a decade.

"It's a good win for us," "They were fast and athletic, but we played well and executed. That's the best team we've beat so far."

Haverhill jumped out to an early lead but Conners called time out and went to his bench after just 50 seconds, calling on senior guard Chris Crawford, senior forward Chris Fandel and freshman guard Alex DiRocco to right the ship. Tewksbury played well from that point on, and tied the score at 30-30 at halftime.

A 6-0 run to start the third period gave the Redmen a lead they would not relinquish, but Haverhill stayed within striking distance throughout the entire second half. The Hillies twice cut the TMHS lead to two points in the fourth quarter, hit two clutch free throws at one point and Lumbard, the team's senior sharp shooter, banked home a 30-foot three-pointer to beat the shot clock on another occasion.

"They put a lot of pressure on us but we were able to handle it and get lay-ups," Conners said. "I think, in the past, that would have bothered us. We're doing a better job taking care of the ball."

Foley, who had a career high 13 points in Friday's monumental win over Chelmsford, came back with an even better effort against Haverhill, leading all scorers with his career-high 16. Several of his field goals came off back-door cuts that created open looks right under the basket for the 6-foot forward.

"Right from the beginning, he (Foley) got my offense," Conners said. "He picked it up right away, but he struggled finishing. But now we've had a month and a half where we do an hour of skills every day, and he's starting to see some of the fruits of that work."

Fandel added a season-high 10 points and six rebounds in what Conners called "an awesome job" off the bench, while sophomore forward Kevin Dick added 11 points and Chiccarelli scored nine.

The Redmen are now 4-6 overall, 3-3 in the Merrimack Valley Conference. After a 1-4 start, they have won three of their last five games.

"We're getting better, but I still think there's a lot of room for improvement," Conners said. "But basketball is a game of confidence. Once you see what you're capable of, you start doing more of it."

Tewksbury goes back on the road Friday night for a critical game at Methuen. The Rangers, who currently sit in first place in the MVC Division 2 standings,

"We'll need to play better (against Methuen) than we did the first time," Conners said. "But our practices have been better since the Melrose game. The intensity has been much better. We put the Chelmsford win behind us and we're gonna put this one behind us. We told them that a good team isn't happy with just one win. You gotta get hungry and go get another one."

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