NORTHBORO – Thanks to a strong finish in the beam and floor events, Central Catholic is back on top as North Sectional champions.

After trailing through three rotations, Central Catholic mustered up more than enough to take home their second sectional title in three seasons with 147.575 to Masconomet’s 146.925 at Algonquin Regional yesterday afternoon.

“This was pretty good because we’re down a couple key players today, so we were down some pretty big scores that we usually count,” said Central Catholic coach Heather Fusco about the sectional title. “So, they really pulled it together. A little weak on bars, but we came back with a strong beam and then an awesome floor.”

Danvers/Lynnfield placed third with 146.525 and Reading (143.275) will also be participating in next Saturday’s state final at Algonquin Regional at 2 p.m.

It was Zinnia Hopkinson who stole the show with the top score for her team in three of four events, including a 9.800 in the floor routine, 9.550 in the uneven bars and a 9.800 on the beam. Her beam and uneven bars scores led the meet.

“(She’s) a really strong gymnast,” Fusco said about the junior. “She has a really good time competing with us and she’s just a key player. All of our top four really are (key players), so we’re pretty lucky.”

Through three rotations, Masconomet held a slim advantage with a 110.1 to 109.975 lead over Central Catholic thanks to Sarah Aldrich (9.600) and Janey Young (9.500) in the vault.

It was the floor routines that pushed Masconomet into the driver’s seat as all four scorers scored above 9.0 with Young leading the way with a 9.650. Aldrich added a 9.600 while Kate Mugge (9.525) and Ava Nolan (9.275) finished out a strong floor team.

For Central Catholic, they came out strong on vault with Kallie McCarthy landing the best score with a 9.800. Hopkinson added a 9.450 and Sophia Sierpina rounded up the high scorers with a 9.050.

McCarthy had a 9.350 on the beam and a 9.200 in the uneven bars with a 9.450 on her floor routine.

“I’m really happy with how we came together as a team before that,” said Hopkinson, the Texas Women’s University commit. “We were cheering a lot and it was a lot easier to focus when you have the support of your team.”