Nobles 42, Rivers 41

Nobles�s 42-41 win over Rivers Sunday for the NEPSAC Class A girls� basketball title was down-to-the-wire, hold-onto-your-seat exciting. But it was hardly surprising. The two top teams in the ISL were meeting with a title on the line for the second time in a little more than two weeks. Nobles won the ISL regular-season title on Feb. 15. That score? 42-41. If the score was a mirror image so was the title, with Nobles winning its second straight NEPSAC championship to finish at 27-0. The Bulldogs came back from a 10-point deficit with five minutes to play to beat Rivers at Loomis Chaffee. Junior Kate Kerrigan began the comeback with a 3-pointer, followed by another from Katie Benzan. Rivers added a free throw before sophomore Alex Maund of Mattapan (7 points, 13 rebounds to earn MVP honors) hit two baskets to cut the margin to 1. Kerrigan then hit the winner with 35 seconds left to go up, 42-41. Rivers had possession following a missed free throw with 2.2 seconds left but Nobles stole the inbounds pass and the title. �They had each others� backs and made play after play down the stretch,� said coach Alex Gallagher. �It was two evenly matched teams and we were fortunate to come out on top.�

»Rivers schedule/results

»Nobles schedule/results