PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Peabody’s Sara Hosman goes past Danvers’ Julia McNulty to the basket.
By MIKE ALONGI
DANVERS — After a slow start to the game, the Danvers Falcons girls’ basketball team caught fire in the second half and beat the Peabody Tanners, 51-43, at home in the final regular season game for both teams.
Danvers (12-8) was led by senior captain Hannah Llewellyn, who finished with 18 points. After going scoreless in the first half, Llewellyn hit three three-pointers and scored 12 points in the third quarter alone.
“I thought we were a little sloppy offensively at times,” said Danvers coach Pat Veilleux. “But when you have a Hannah Llewellyn on your team, you can get away with playing a little sloppy.”
Danvers sophomore guard Siobhan Moriarty put up nine points and seven rebounds, while junior forward Tina Gigli finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Julia McNulty had eight points and two rebounds, while senior captain Devin Walsh had seven points and three rebounds.
“I thought we controlled the tempo for the most part,” said Veilleux. “Most importantly, we were able to rebound so we could get shots on the other end, and our defense played a big role tonight.”
Peabody (9-10) was led by junior guard Melissa Gray, who finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Senior captain Sara Hosman had 11 points and two rebounds, while senior captain Christa Baker had seven points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Chinanye Onwuogo had four points and five rebounds and senior captain Marina DeMild had three points and 11 rebounds.
“We can’t score 10 points in the first half and expect to beat a team like this,” said Peabody coach Stan McKeen. “And they got hot in the second half and we couldn’t get out on them on defense, and things snowballed from there.”
The first half was marked by low scoring for both teams. With both were playing solid defense, neither could gain any significant edge. The difference was that Danvers was able to get to the free throw line. Peabody committed eight team fouls in the first half, and another 10 in the second half, and Danvers made 16 free throws on the night.
In the second half, up 19-10, the Falcons started to pull away.
Llewellyn hit a couple of threes early, while McNulty and Walsh made plays around the basket. Danvers was able to stretch its lead out to 11 points halfway through the third, and the lead went to as many as 16 points early in the fourth quarter.
With a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter, all the Falcons had to do was hit some free throws to seal the win.
Peabody unfortunately could not grab the elusive 10th win to get into the state tournament.
“This has been the way we’ve played this season,” said McKeen. “We’ve been up and down all season long.”
Danvers, on the other hand, now has a week off to prepare for the tournament.
“We’re in a good place right now,” said Veilleux. “We’re looking to get a seven or an eight-seed and get a home game out of it. So we’ll see how it goes.”
Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @m_alongi.