For the second year in a row, the Franklin Tech girls basketball team captured a state vocational title on Sunday.

The top-seeded Eagles got out of the gates in impressive fashion, building a 24-5 lead after one quarter, and rolled past Blue Hills Regional Technical School, 67-25, in the MVADA Small School championship game in Turners Falls.

Franklin Tech, which won its first-ever state vocational title last year, improved to 20-2 on the season.

“The kids executed extremely well,” Franklin Tech coach Joe Gamache lauded. “Defensively we played well, forced some turnovers which led to some good scoring opportunities.”

The Eagles led 24-5 after one quarter and 34-13 at halftime in Sunday’s victory. Lea Chapman led three players in double figures, scoring 16 points to go with 12 rebounds and five steals. Kendra Campbell notched 15 points and four assists, while Hannah Gilbert went for 13 points and six rebounds. Kaitlin Trudeau paced the defensive effort with seven steals, while Lilianna Inman and Kyra Goodell had six rebounds apiece.

“This is an extremely hard-working group,” Gamache said. “We’ve won 20 games now heading into the state tournament which is an accomplishment I’m extremely proud of.”

Next up for Franklin Tech is the MIAA Division 5 tournament, where the Eagles are seeded 17th and will travel to play at No. 16 St. Bernard’s in the Round of 32 on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Fitchburg. Blue Hills is the No. 20 seed in the Div. 4 field, and will play at No. 13 Manchester Essex on Friday.

“We know now we have to turn our attention to the state tourney,” said Gamache. “We have to take things one game at a time and that’s been our mantra all year so we’ll see what we can do and hopefully make a little run.”

Wrestling

MIAA All-States

Mahar’s Abduli Gilmore closed out his state-title winning season at Day 2 of the MIAA All-State Wrestling Championships at Reading High School on Saturday.

After going 2-1 during Friday’s opening day of the tournament, Gilmore needed to win to stay alive in the 113-pound bracket on Saturday. Wrestling in the consolation field, he dropped a major decision to Lowell’s Jaxon Phachansiri, 11-3, but still had one more chance to compete in the seventh-place match.

In his final match of the season, Gilmore earned a second-period pin of New Bedford’s Luis Garcia to capture seventh place in his weight class.

Gilmore’s finish helped Mahar snag a tie for 49th place as a team with 19 points. Saint John’s Prep won the All-State team title with 117.5 points, followed by Minnechaug with 96.

In the Girls All-State Championship, Franklin Tech’s Anaray Yang closed out her tournament with a loss to Gloucester’s Bailee Militello in the 127-pound Round of Four. Teammate Mia Marigliano also fell in the consolation Round of Four to Woburn’s Logan Murray at 127 pounds. Jacqueline Churchill dropped a match to Bellingham’s Ella Costa at 215.

Indoor track

MIAA Meet of Champions

Frontier senior Caroline Crocker capped her standout season with a 13th-place finish at the MIAA Indoor Track Meet of Champions on Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Competing in the preliminary round of the 55-meter hurdles, Crocker posted a time of 8.79 seconds, finishing 0.11 seconds short of earning a spot in the event finals. Obi Akubude of Concord-Carlisle captured the All-State title in the event with a time of 8.31 seconds.

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