THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2024 Page 7 Lady Patriots fall in Division 1 girls basketball tourney opener By Dom Nicastro T he Revere High School girls basketball team saw its season come to a close in the Division 1 state tournament. Durfee, seeded No. 28 in the 39-team tourney, beat No. 37 Revere, 5424, on Tuesday night, Feb. 27 at Durfee High School. The Hilltopper girls had the edge from the start and now move on to the fi rst round of the tourney that features 32 teams left battling for a chance to get into the state championship game in March. It will play fifth-seeded Wellesley on the guiding the Patriots to a winning record pretty much from the jump. Coming into this season, the JV Cunha of Revere, shown at left at the podium Kevin Purcifull of Revere, at far right road on Feb. 29 at 6 p.m. The Patriots were under constant full court pressure from Durfee all night and couldn’t get into a rhythm off ensively. On defense, it was hard for the Patriots to keep up with the balanced attack from the Hilltoppers. Julia Hargraves (13 points), Maggie O’Connell (12), Alex Lapointe (12), Maddie Hargraves (eight) and Skylah Coward (six) led the way for the hosts. Ariana Rivera stepped into the role of Revere’s head coach for the first time this season. She previously served as an assistant coach for two years. Rivera played at Burlington High School and UMass Boston as a shooting guard and then racked up some coaching experience at King Phillip before coming to Revere. Her experience showed, Patriots faced challenges the year before due to a lack of seniors. But they had six seniors this winter, four of whom serve as captains, on the court this season, and the leadership showed from the start. Revere was the team to beat in the GBL for most of the season. Senior point guard Haley Belloise, senior forward Alisha Jean, senior center Belma Velic and senior guard Bella Stamatopoulos served as captains, and guard Rocio Gonzalez and forward Julianna Bolton rounded out the senior class for the Patriots this season. Revere went into the postseason game this week as the No. 37 seed out of 39 teams in the state’s top division. The Patriots fi nished the season with an overall record of 14-7. They were 14-6 coming into the tournament and had won a share of the Greater Boston League title. Revere and fellow GBL teams TOURNEY | SEE Page 15
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