By Matt Langone
Click here for a photo slideshow of the game
For the second time in three years, the Manchester Essex High School girls' basketball team saw their state championship dreams come to an end in the Division 4 state title on the historic parquet floor of Boston's TD Garden.
South sectional champion Cohasset — the same school that beat the Hornets in overtime at the Garden in 2008 — capped a perfect 25-0 season with a 50-40 win over Manchester Essex yesterday on the same floor that's best known as home to the 17-time World Champion Boston Celtics.
Leading just 15-14 after a 6-0 Manchester Essex run in the second quarter, Cohasset took command with a 10-0 run of its own to take a 25-14 halftime lead, and the Hornets never got closer than 10 throughout the second half.
Lizzy Ball tossed in 14 points and added 10 rebounds, and senior captain Julia Martz added 11 points to lead Manchester Essex. Cohasset point guard Meredith Kelly led all scorers with 19 points, 15 of them in the first half.
The Hornets, who earned the North sectional title last Saturday, finished with an overall season record of 13-13. But after being seeded just 16th, they soared to the state title by winning five straight sectional tournament games — each by 17 points or more. Cohasset edged out the Hornets 44-36 in their 2008 overtime thriller.
For full coverage of the game, look to today's Gloucester Daily Times, to the gloucestertimes.com Sports stories -- and to photographer Kate Glass's online Photo Slideshow that spotlights the game and the Garden scene.
