LEE, Mass. – Giana Carlino scored 17 points Friday to lead the Lee girls basketball team to a 46-41, come-from-behind win over Southwick that qualified the Wildcats for the Division 5 State Tournament.

 

Carlino scored eight in the second quarter, when Lee erased an early deficit.

 

Southwick’s Emily Davis (12 points) scored nine in the first quarter to help the Rams jump out to an 18-8 lead.

 

“We got off to a rough start and Southwick came out strong,” Lee coach Rick Puleri said. “We buckled down on defense switching to man-to-man and we were able to stay with their shooters. Mia [Puleri] kept us in the game in the first with her shooting. Then we got Mika and Giana going and fed off of our defense.  We are very happy to win on  Senior night.”

 

Puleri scored all eight Lee points in the first quarter and ended up with 13 in the game.

 

Mika Diller scored nine in the win.

 

Lee (10-6) is at Ludlow on Monday.