Uber-hyped!

by Steev Riccardo

Greetings sports fans! 

The highly anticipated Shepherd Hill-Holy Name girls basketball match-up didn’t quite live up to its hype (mostly hype created right here in this column), but Gigi Guenther certainly that proved that she is the real deal.

The Webster native, who attended Saint Ann’s school, did, however, live up to her advance billing, scoring 17 points while grabbing eight rebounds in the Naps 46-22 win over the Rams.

Only a sophomore, Gigi already looks like a big time high school player.  She leads her team in scoring and has been playing like a veteran all season coming off the bench. Can you say best sixth man in Central Mass?

“Gigi is dynamite; she is someone who every coach would want on their team,” said Naps coach Barry Finneron. “From the time she gets out there she is giving you 100% all the time.”

Finneron talked about the vast improvement in Gigi from last year to this year. “She has more confidence, playing every day, playing with good players, I think that is part of it.  The increase in speed that she has to play with the kids around her has helped too. She is a worker, whatever you ask her to work on, she works on.”

As far as getting up for the match with Shepherd Hill, Finneron said, “She was all excited; we had to tie her down to get her here, she was jumping off the bus.” 

“Gigi is a great kid to work with, an athlete, a great soccer player, a great basketball player. I’m sure if she wanted to play softball she could do that as well.”

One of her good friends and opponents, Rams senior co-captain Taylor Daniels, has tremendous respect for Guenther. “Playing against Gigi is always so much fun. You kind of push the friends thing aside once you step on the court but it's good clean friendly competition with Holy Name. I've been playing against her my entire life. We grew up together playing sports and it’s been competitive ever since. Gigi is a terrific player and only will continue to improve.”

The View’s Top 5 of the week:

1. Gigi Guenther, Holy Name girls basketball:  It’s all about Gigi. 17 points and eight rebounds in a big game and only a sophomore. That is hard to top.

2. Alex Givins-Perry, Bartlett boy’ basketball:  “AGP” played a strong game in the Douglas loss, scoring 25 points.

3. Taylor Daniels, Shepherd Hill girls basketball:  Like she is on the soccer field, Daniels is one tough hard-nosed player who gives 100% all the time. Her 12 points against Holy Name accounted for more than half of her teams 22 total points.

4. Justin Terlizzi, Shepherd Hill boys basketball:  Justin Terlizzi has been the picture of consistency for the Rams this year.  He led his team with 21 in a win over East Longmeadow this week.

5. Tyler Barrie, Oxford boys basketball: Tyler Barrie had 19 points in the Pirates loss against Quaboag last week.

Ryan Renauld: Rumor has it that Ryan Renauld will be stepping in as the Bartlett girls softball coach. Stay tuned for more info on that.

Girls Basketball Tournament: St. Anne’s school in Webster will be holding a girls basketball tournament on February 15-18. More info to come.  The Route 395 basketball and cheerleading conference has a website that you can visit to get more info on upcoming games.

Until next week, see you on the sidelines! Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any sports news and check out the new View from the Sidelines Facebook page with exclusive photos and news at https://www.facebook.com/ViewFromTheSidelines