by ML posted 03/09/2010
Pelham Travel Basketball posted 2 League Champions! Go Pride!
March 7, 2010 - This past weekend proved to be highly successful for Pelham Travel Basketball with 2 teams coming away with League Tournament championships. The Pelham Pride 6th Grade Boys team battled their way through some tough opponents to take home the Merrimack Valley League title. The Pride stormed through the season and earned the #1 seed going into the playoffs. Behind a strong all around team effort, Pelham cruised to a 52-13 quarter final win over Wilmington on Saturday. The team's second game of the day pitted the Pride against Billerica in the semi-finals. Using another dominating performance, the team rolled to a 45-22 victory. Steven Jackson poured in 15 points and Trevor Gagnon chipped in with 6 key second half points as Pelham pulled away. John Granfield led a smothering pressure defense that keyed the win. After a good night's sleep, the boys were back in action Sunday for a championship bout with rival Tewksbury. The game was tight throughout with Pelham sealing the deal with some key free throw shooting by Trevor Longo, Cameron Deloreto, and Collin Loring. Keith Brown led the offensive attack with 18 points even while being keyed on all game by the Tewksbury defense.
The Pelham Pride 5th Grade Girls team capped a successful season with their 23rd straight victory and an undefeated (19-0) run through the River Valley League. The girls First Place finish in the RVL 5B division earned them a top seed in the 5th & 6th grade playoff bracket. Pelham featured an uptempo, balanced, fast break offense and a tenacious full court defense led by Jessica Lessard and backcourt mate Rachel Marion. In the opening round, Pelham dominated Tewksbury 6C with a 32-6 victory. Quarterfinal opponent Beverly 5B proved much tougher, jumping out to an 11-0 lead. The Pride, led by Kara Gendron and Jaime Grimard, responded with an 14-6 run to win 18-17. Next up was a semi-final date with Andover 5A. Pelham expanded a one point half time lead to win 35-29. Forwards Nicole Mansfield, Shannon Morin, Lilly Shlimon, Sarah Ratcliffe and Morgan Walsh all took turns contributing on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. This set the stage for the championship game versus Westford 5A. With Pelham battling early foul trouble, Westford raced to an early 7 point lead at 13-6. The girls dug in their heels for the last 3 minutes of the 1st half to close the lead to one point at 14-13 with Sarah Brown, Abby Conway and Abbey LaChapelle controlling the post. A balanced Pelham offense in the second half helped the girls pull out a well earned 28-26 victory and league title.
Congratulations to the both teams for well earned championships.
