Saturday’s slate at the Tsongas Arena — Andover-Central Catholic girls at 5:45 p.m. followed by Central Catholic-Lowell boys at 7:30 p.m. — should be an outstanding take.
Andover girls coach Jim Tildsley figures the 6,500-seat building might even sell out. Central girls plus Central boys plus hometown Lowell could equal an overflow crowd. (We advise that you get there early).
“I really think it’s going to be a tough ticket,” Tildsley said.
Area basketball fans remember the 1999 state finals, when Central Catholic and Scott Hazelton defeated Worcester’s Holy Name, which also had a future McDonald’s All-American, 7-foot-6 Neil Fingleton, who wikipedia calls, “The United Kingdom’s tallest British-born man.” Yikes.
Before that game, the Methuen girls defeated Shrewsbury to capture the second state title of coach Mimi Hyde’s career.
Our records are far from exact, but at the time, we estimated the crowd at the Worcester Centrum to be around 10,000. Again, two local powers plus two Worcester-area teams equalled an insane atmosphere.
Onto actual hoops:
Both girls squads are on hot streaks (Andover has won six in a row, Central five in a row). The second win of Raiders’ run was over EMass. No. 1 Archbishop Williams (now a Division 3 South finalist) in the final of the Comcast Tournament on Feb. 17.
Here are a few bits from Tildsley and Central coach Sue Downer.
Tildsley:
(On Central) “They’re playing much better than they were. They’re peaking at the right time. We’re playing pretty well too. Tuesday’s game took a lot out of us. The intensity in that game was incredible.”
“Katie Zenevitch is playing as well as any kid in the state. She’s focused, she’s the real deal.”
On Natalie Gomez-Martinez: “She can create off the dribble like a Division 1 (college) player. There’s not many players in this area who can do that.”
Downer:
“(Andover) has got to work for everything. And everything has to work for us. Camille Fantini played phenomenally (Tuesday). Everybody on the floor (for us) has to be ready to play, ready to defend.”
Unfortunately, Tildsley added, “Someone has to win and someone has to lose.”
The winner will be rewarded handsomely with a trip to TD Banknorth Garden.
