The Westport High School boys and girls teams play second round playoff games tonight, Tuesday, Feb. 23. The boys host West Bridgewater at 4 p.m. and the girls play at West Bridgewater at 5:30 pm.

On Saturday both teams hosted first round playoff games. Westport guards Leah Sylvain, Korynne Holden and Zoe Sylvain combined for 30 points as the Lady Wildcats overpowered South Shore Vocational School, 55-13, in the first game of a playoff double header at the high school on Saturday. Domanick Vitorino scored 16 points as the boys out-dueled South Shore Christian Academy, 64-47, in the afternoon game. Both teams move on in their brackets to play on Tuesday night. The boys will host West Bridgewater and the girls will travel to West Bridgewater.

Guards lead Lady Wildcats

Sylvain scored 13 points, Holden netted 10, eighth grader Zoe Sylvain, Leah’s cousin, scored 7, and junior forward Lily Pichette netted 9 for the Wildcats as they sprinted out to a 14-3 first quarter lead.

“In the first half we took the Cobra Kai mentality, ‘Strike first. Strike hard,’ said girls head coach Michael Ponte. “We know in playoff games when you strike first and strike hard, you can kind of put the game to bed early. And that’s what we wanted to do.”

The team played ferocious defense though out the game. Pichette and team captain Jess Carney dominated the boards at both ends of the court, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds and at times, ripping the ball out of hands of South Shore forwards. Pichette netted 6 of her 9 points in the opening quarter, despite having trouble with her jumper.

“Lily is a special player,” coach Ponte said. “She’s at least a double-double every single game with four or five steals. Her athleticism is a real weapon for us.”

South Shore had an even bigger problem getting through the traps set by the Wildcat’s guards. Playing in their half court wolverine defense, Holden and the two Sylvains pounced on South Shore as soon as they gained half court and created havoc.

“Our defense was all over the place,” coach Ponte said. “We had steals. We had layups. We executed the game plan tonight which is something that I was really happy with.”

The Wildats led 27-6 at halftime and exploded for 22 points in the third quarter to take a 49-8 lead.

On South Shore’s first possession after the half, Lightning quick sophomore Leah Sylvain stole a pass off the trap and dribbled in for an easy layup to make it 29-6. Jess Carney pulled down a defensive rebound and heaved a long pass to Pichette who hustled up court for jumper to make it 31-6. Holden hit a long range jumper to make it 33-6. Pichette wrestled the ball away from a South Shore forward under the Wildcats basket passed to Leah Sylvain and she netted a jumper for a 35-6 lead. Holden hit the floor as she got a piece of the ball which deflected to Leah Sylvain. She raced up court then passed back. To Holden and she drained a second jumper to give the Wildcats a 37-6 lead. Zoey Sylvain made it 39-6 on a jumper just outsdie the paint and Leah extended the lead to 42-6 with a three pointer.

Coach Ponte said that he borrowed another phrase from the Netflix miniseries while speaking to the team during halftime, “We executed the third part of the (Cobra Kai mindset) which is to show, ‘no mercy.’ We have to put this to bed now. Finish, finish, finish and that’s what we did in the third quarter.” 

Guards Sarah Perry, Abby Silvia and forward Sarah Carney also played well coming in off the bench in the first three quarters.

“Sarah and Abby have been in the program for a number of years,” said coach Ponte. “Sarah comes in grabs a bunch of rebounds, blocks out and hits a shot right away. It’s exactly what you want out of your bench players. Abby comes in with instant energy. Offensive rebounds. Good assists, good passes. Can’t go wrong that.”

After the third quarter, coach Ponte rested his starters and did show mercy as he sent in the junior varsity to gain valuable playing time and finish out the game.

“This is the last game that’s ever going to be played in this gym by girls basketball,” said team captain Jess Carney after the game. “It was nice seeing the younger girls go into the game at the end too. It proves that we aren’t just a four year team… We are actually building a program here.”

Girls scoring: Leah Sylvain scored 13, Korynne Holden scored 10, Lily Pichette scored 9, Zoe Sylvain scored 7, Meghan Malloy scored 6, Sarah Perry scored 4, Sarah Carney scored 4 and Abby Silvia scored 2.

Boys out-duel South Shore Christian Academy

Junior forward Domanic Vitorino fought his way through the Warrior defense with his nifty moves to score 16 points to lead the Wildcats over South Shore Christian Academy 64-47. Sophomore guard Hunter Brodeur netted 13, senior Aidan Viveiros scored 11, Owen Boudria scored 10 and his older brother Ben scored 8 for the Wildcats as they never relinquished the lead.

“We did a lot of little things that I saw that were big,” said head coach Scot Boudria.  “Obviously Domanick’s offensive scoring was big. I thought that the defense really contributed.”

The Widcats defense was relentless as they blocked shots, rebounded, trapped and made steals.

“We had big steals from Hunter, Ben and (senior forward) Max Powers,” said coach Boudria. “We were limiting the turnovers, but they (SSCA) were still getting a lot of second chance shots. Once we eliminated that, it was a big difference.”

Ben Boudria, the coach’s elder son, broke a 10-10 tie with a put back from the paint at the end of the first quarter. He was fouled and knocked down on the play as the ball fell through the net. He drained the free throw to give the Wildcats a 13-10.

South Shore tied the game on a three to make it 13-13. Brodeur broke the tie with as he dribbled around a South Shore guard and hit a jumper in the paint for a 15-13 Westport lead. Vitorino pressed, stole the ball dribbled up court, drove the lane and got hammered, but drew the foul. He netted both shots for a 17-15 lead. The junior forward scored 9 points in the quarter as the Wildcats went on a 10 point run. Vitorino scored on a one-handed jumper just outside the paint to make it 19-15 with 4:19 left in the quarter. Powers scored from underneath to make it, 21-15. Eighth grader Owen Boudria hit a jumper and netted a foul shot for a 24-15 lead. Vitorino netted a three to make it 27-15 with 3:01 left in second quarter and scored again as the Wildcats took a 29-21 lead into the half.

“It was a nail biter,” coach Boudria said of the first half. But five players knocked down threes. That’s a big deal. If five can score threes, we are going to do well.”

Brodeur had the hot-hands early in the third quarter and scored three straight jumpers to give Westport a 35-25 lead.

“Hunter’s a strong kid,” said coach Boudria. He worked really hard in the offseason to improve his game. He had a big third quarter. We kept going to him until the well ran dry.”

Then the team got hot as Brodeur, Viveiros, Ben Boudria and Owen Boudria all hit threes in the second half. The Wildcats scored 35 points while limiting South Shore to 26.

“Every player contributed. We played very unselfish,” said coach Boudria. “The team consistently tried to hit the open man, and that’s a big deal.”

Both Westport teams will have their hands full with their West Bridgewater opponents.

The girls went 0-2 against them early in the season and the boys went 1-1.

“They are a formidable opponent,” said coach Boudria. “One of the better teams in Division IV… We are looking forward to the challenge.”

  Boys scoring: Domanick Vitorino scored 16 points, Hunter Brodeur scored 13, Aidan Viveiros scored 11, Owen Boudria scored 10, Ben Boudria scored 8, Max Powers scored 6.