ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Olivia Valente of Saugus looks for an open pass while being guarded by Swampscott’s Hannah Leahy.
By HAROLD RIVERA
SAUGUS — The Saugus girls basketball team identifies itself as a “fourth quarter team.” Tuesday evening at Saugus High School, the Sachems were a “fourth quarter team” through the entire game.
Saugus built an early 9-3 lead after the first period and never looked back, en route to a 44-32 win over Swampscott.
Sachems coach Mark Schruender was happy to see his team get off to a quick start.
“We have this joke going on right now,” Schruender said. “We’re a great team in the fourth quarter. (Junior guard) Rachel Nazzaro said in the locker room, ‘hey it’s the fourth quarter in the first quarter tonight.’ So that was the mentality, we wanted to play four fourth quarters.”
The Sachems jumped out to a quick 9-0 run in the opening period, capped off by a three-pointer from Alessia Salzillo. Saugus remained ahead at 9-0 until Olivia Matela knocked in a three in the final seconds to put Swampscott on the board. Swampscott struggled to score points and the Sachems led 9-3 after one.
“Saugus’ pressure is so tough,” Swampscott coach Katelyn Leonard said. “Their offense is really good. Turnovers hurt us, they caused a lot of turnovers for us. That gave them the momentum.”
The Big Blue began to find their rhythm on offense in the second quarter. Hannah Leahy stormed her way into the paint for a lay-in and added a free throw to put Swampscott back in the game, down 11-6.
“Our girls fought,” Leonard said. “We never quit. We had a couple of runs but we just kind of ran out of gas towards the end.”
Saugus opened a double-digit lead when Nazzaro swished a three to put the Sachems ahead, 16-6, midway through the quarter. Emily Guiney snuck a layup in for the Big Blue before the end of the quarter, but Saugus led 23-12 at the half.
“It was tough to dig out of that,” Leonard said of Swampscott’s early deficit. “We had some good runs, it just wasn’t enough.”
Swampscott began the third quarter with a 5-0 run thanks to a bucket from Matela and a conventional three-point play by Leahy. The pair’s efforts made it a six-point deficit at 23-17. Kiley Ronan’s putback with a minute to play gave the Sachems an 11-point advantage again at 33-22. Saugus led 33-24 after three quarters.
“Swampscott’s a great team,” Schruender said. “They were without two of their leaders today in Jaymie Caponigro and Katie Watts. They’re still a deep team, all five players can hurt you. We haven’t beat them in a while. Coach Leonard is incredible and we have a lot of respect for their program so getting the win is awesome.”
The Big Blue made it a seven-point game after Ella Parker powered her way to a bucket in the paint in the fourth quarter, but Saugus answered with another three from Salzillo. The sophomore guard’s three-pointer bumped the lead to ten, 38-28, and Saugus closed out the win, 44-32.
Matela led the Big Blue with 14 points, while Leahy contributed with 12.
The duo of Valente and Salzillo guided Saugus in the win. Valente scored 14 points and Salzillo finished with 12. Nazzaro added five points.
Saugus finishes the regular season at 16-6 and now awaits the state tournament pairings, which will be announced on Friday.
Swampscott, also in the tournament, stands at 9-10 and visits Lynn English on Wednesday.
“We’re going to forget about this one tonight,” Leonard said. “English is another good team but it’s good that we’re getting tested this week because we’ll face a good team in the tournament. We’re hoping that the ball falls a little bit for us tomorrow night and we get that win.”