Algonquin Junior Brandon Lukoff faces off against Shrewsbury Junior Tim McCarthy.

Photo Credit: Bret Matthew

Players fight for control of the ball.

Photo Credit: Bret Matthew

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. — Both the Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball teams from Algonquin and Shrewsbury played tough, competitive games in last night’s double header at Algonquin Regional High School.

The Lady Colonials beat the Lady Tomahawks in the first game of the duo, 46-28. The Shrewsbury girls are now 10-1 overall. The Algonquin girls is 5-5. 

"I think we played a great 32 minutes," said Shrewsbury Coach Erin Largess. "I’m impressed we could come in here against a very tough league opponent and perform the way we did."

Both teams got off to a slow start in the first quarter and had difficulty completing their shots. Shrewsbury began to pull away in the second quarter, partly due to an increasingly comfortable offense, and partly due to the number of fouls inflicted on them by the Lady Tomahawks. They capitalized on the chance to make foul shots and pulled even further ahead on the scoreboard.

"Shrewsbury played really well," said Algonquin Coach Ron Jones. "We played hard, but not well."

The Lady Tomahawks did have a strong fourth quarter where they closed the score gap a bit, which encouraged Jones. He said, however, "right now, we’re not playing as well as we could be."

Top scorers for Shrewsbury were Senior Co-Captain Danielle Deraney (12 points) and Sophomore Elizabeth Grip (11 points). Top scorers for Algonquin were Sophomore Amanda Murphy (nine points) and Senior Emily Burke and Junior Sarah Merchant (four points each).

Later that night, the Tomahawks beat the Colonials, 51-39. The Shrewsbury Boys are now 1-10. The Algonquin Boys are now 5-5.

“We played against a very well coached basketball team tonight,” said Shrewsbury Coach Adrian Machado. “We struggled putting the ball in the basket.” 

Machado attributed this to Algonquin’s strong defense.

Indeed, both teams played strong, physical games and struggled for every possession. But it was Algonquin’s offense that finally broke away in the third quarter. After ending the half with a 25-18 lead, the Tomahawks rallied to score eight points in only a minute and a half. Shrewsbury, meanwhile, had several chances to score but could not follow through. The quarter ended with Algonquin scoring 15 points, while Shrewsbury only came up with two.

Though the Colonials played hard until the end, they could not come close to taking the lead.

Top scorers for Algonquin were Freshman AJ Brodeur (13 points) and Junior Brad Canova and Senior Captain Vik Kozica (nine points each). Top scorers for Shrewsbury were Mike Coggeshall (11 points) and Ryan Russell (seven points).