Dream chasers

Swampscott girls rejoice while Lynn English boys miss their chance

Swampscott's Tara Gallagher (left) wrestles the ball from a Quaboag Regional player. At right, the Swampscott girls storm the floor after victory. (Photos by Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)

WORCESTER - An hour before the first tip-off of the day, the DCU Center seats were empty, occupied only by the echo of basketballs bouncing off the court. There were six state championship games on the slate. When the final buzzers sounded, six teams stormed the court with hands in the air, while six others had their heads in their hands.

The Swampscott High girls' squad faced the first challenge of the day against Quaboag Regional in the Division 3 state title game. It was early, and they didn't mind the audience of none. They knew it wouldn't last long.

"Wait until you see the people coming today. It's going to be awesome," said forward Allie Myette, standing with sophomore Christi Mazareas. When asked how many Big Blue fans they expected, the two waved their hands over the seats.

"A sea of blue," they said.

The day before the championship, the girls practiced, then enjoyed a team dinner at Bertucci's before retreating home. Some watched college basketball. Star forward Allie Beaulieu fell asleep watching the Boston College men's team battle Duke. Much of the team slept well the night before, though nerves weren't as slight as spectators in the pregame stands.

"It's good nerves," Myette and Mazareas agreed.

"It's our last game either way," added Myette, a senior. "I'm going to miss our team so much."

The night before their big game, the Lynn English boys opted for Chinese food. But when they met at the school at 2:30 p.m. on game day, it was carbs on the menu: chicken Parmesan and chicken broccoli ziti. They'd face St. John's of Shrewbury for the Division 1 boys' state title in the final game of the night.

Frank Kowalski, the Swampscott athletic director, was tired of waiting. He arrived at the arena with the team bus and stood alone on the court before the girls came out to shoot.

Kowalski was a forward for Malden Catholic from 1983 to 1986. He played against Xaverian alumni Dana Barros, but he never played in a game of this magnitude. "Not even close," he said.

The burly 6-foot-plus Kowalski shuffled his feet. "I'm nervous for the kids," he said. "Being older, I know what this is going to mean 10 or 15 years down the road. I don't know if the kids can grasp that concept right now."

The beige seats were starting to fill up, but it was still low tide in Worcester.

"I have 10 daughters on that team," John Gambale said, sitting in the stands. Gambale felt a fatherly connection with the Swampscott team. He had two actual daughters on the team, senior Marissa and sophomore Lisa. Gambale was the coach of a church league team and saw many of Swampscott's girls grow up before his eyes. Beaulieu and Gambale's daughter, Marissa, started playing for him in fourth grade.

He'd seen fourth-grader Tara Nimkar playing soccer. "Her athleticism just stuck out," Gambale said. So, he made some inquiries to try to get her to play basketball, and was floored by what he heard. "She didn't think she was good enough," he said.

Before then, Nimkar's competition was her two brothers, both of whom went on to play for the Swampscott boys' squad.

She ended up scoring more than 1,000 points in her high school career. Gambale couldn't be more proud. "The rest is history," he said. "She hasn't put the ball down since."

It was full tide when the game tipped off at 10:44 a.m. Swampscott started shaky with some turnovers, but found its stride, ending the first quarter with an 11-1 run.

Toward the back of the Swampscott section, rows behind the rowdy student section, sat Kay Myette, Allie Myette's grandmother. She bounced in her seat, weaving around an Irish charm, a four-leaf clover with a leprechaun hat on top. She pulled her pants legs up to reveal Irish-themed socks.

"Luck of the Irish," she said with a smile. She noted that her ancestry points to Nova Scotia, not Ireland, but Myette's other grandmother, Lois Donovan, sitting one row up, represents the Irish side of the family.

Luck arrived quickly, and soon Swampscott held a comfortable lead in the third quarter, but still Myette hadn't seen playing time. That didn't stop her from leaping off the bench, constantly shouting encouragement to her teammates.

Partway into the fourth quarter, she was summoned into the game. Myette, a favorite in the student section, was cheered loudly, though her biggest fan was happiest of all. After a short cheer, Kay Myette remained standing with both hands up to her face and a bright smile. At 71, she looked like a kid on Christmas morning as she watched her granddaughter play in her final basketball game, helping win the state championship, 72-38.

The Lynn English fans knew no such joy. They packed the DCU Center, making the 60-mile drive to Worcester. For many St. John's fans, the trip was more like 6 miles.

The English boys got to watch the sea of red Pioneer fans slowly creep into the arena as the Bulldogs watched the first half of the girls' Division 1 final between Central Catholic and Shepherd Hill.

Now, midgame, the overbearing St. John's fans were proving to be a good match for their team. Other than a late first-half surge, Lynn English just couldn't get enough shooting opportunities.

In the second half, St. John's ran away with the game, taking the state title, 80-62.

The white-shirted Lynn English faithful in the stands could only look in disbelief as the Pioneers celebrated the championship. Their championship.

The St. John's boys brought the trophy over to the section of rowdy students, who pressed against the arena's boards until they gave in with a loud crack. The inadvertent damage drowned out the less-audible sound of broken hearts on the other side of the arena.

For Swampscott, it was a rush onto the court. Hugs were plentiful and triumphant hands reached for the ceiling. The Swampscott girls had just won the Division 3 state title, the first in program history.

Amid the flash of photographs, someone started handing out white championship shirts. After receiving their medals, the girls exited the court to make room for other teams' championship hopes.

Head coach Jack Hughes had no idea where the shirts came from. Now, instead of facing opposing defenses, he was facing half a dozen recorders in the media room. "Someone just handed me a shirt. I saw this pile, I thought it must be a [Mass. Interscholastic Athletic Association] thing. I thought it was nice.

"I never thought I'd be in this. Never," he said. "I think every coach dreams of this but few actually have it."

Beaulieu, the fierce competitor who scored 1,000-plus points in her career, was battered by emotion in the press room as she clutched a rolled-up tissue ball.

"The thing is, I'm going to miss my teammates so much. They've just been great all season," she said, pausing for more tears.

"I want to play another game. I want to keep going, but this is it. We just won a state championship!"

He was so strong in leading Lynn English to the championship game, but, fresh off a team-high 17-point effort in the state semifinal, junior guard Ryan Woumn looked awfully vulnerable.

"To tell you the truth, I'm hurting right now," Woumn said, struggling to find the words to express his thoughts.

He had no such struggles on the court throughout the playoffs, averaging 21.3 points through six postseason games, including 39 to knock off previously unbeaten Brockton in the semifinals, a 90-83 overtime thriller at the TD Banknorth Garden.

"They were just really tired from that Brockton game," said English coach Buzzy Barton. "That's a long season for a high school kid. After that Brockton game, their legs were gone."

Woumn wasn't entirely caught in the immediacy of the loss to St. John's in the state final. "All positive things," he said he was thinking about. "It was a great season."

Barton agreed, adding: "It was just a season to remember. It was something they'll never forget. A lof of the things we did, people dream of doing stuff like that."

Julian Benbow of the Globe staff contributed to this report.