SWAMPSCOTT — On a night when the Swampscott High girls basketball team made 4-year-old Ruby Mae Millea an honorary team member to honor her brave fight against cancer, the Big Blue dug down to thwart a Winthrop comeback to defeat the Vikings, 41-39.
Millea was made an honorary captain, was announced with the starters, and sat on the bench for a quarter.
“That kind of puts everything in perspective,” said coach Katelyn Leonard. “This is a game. What she’s going through is much more important in the big picture.”
The two teams gave the large contingent of fans that came out to support the Millea family plenty to talk about. The Vikings (3-11) turned what looked to be a run-the-mill 10 plus-point victory for the Big Blue into a seat squirmer. They did it by throwing up a zone in the second half to better contain Swampscott’s Nikki Rosa. The junior scored 15 points, but that wasn’t what concerned Winthrop coach Kristin Degou.
“She makes such good decisions with the ball,” said Degou. “It’s not just the scoring.”
Perhaps she was most influenced by two straight Rosa-to-Ella Sprague plays early in the second quarter that showed that Rosa is just as dangerous with an open player as she is with the ball. Twice, she found Sprague under the basket, and the lanky forward laid the ball up and in for baskets. It was portentous, too, as Sprague scored the game-winner with 31 seconds to go, only this time it was McKenzie Kearney making the pass.
“That was a great play,” said Leonard. “That was our best ball movement for the whole game, too.”
The Big Blue showed the patience Leonard constantly preaches before Kearney found Sprague, who broke a 39-39 tie.
It certainly didn’t look like the game would come down to a photo finish. Late in the third quarter, Swampscott had a 30-19 lead and appeared to be in control. Then, Degou — a former star for Newburyport High — called a time out and implored her team to get after it on defense. The players did exactly that. The Vikings took advantage of some Swampscott tightness — as Leonard put it — and a Big Blue cold streak to launch an 8-0 run to climb to within a point with 2:33 to go. Co-captain Francesca Capone (14 points) scored five of those points.
Rosa hit one of two free throws and Swampscott led by a pair (39-37) when Capone struck again, hitting a running layup to tie the game.
Swampscott inbounded the ball, and all five players on the court touched the ball before it found its way into Sprague’s hands. She put up the shot that gave the Big Blue its margin of victory. Sprague had a strong game, finishing with eight points. She was one of the victims of Winthrop’s zone in the second half because, “we settled for outside shots because we couldn’t penetrate it,” said Leonard.
The game was far from over. Winthrop got the ball back, but the Big Blue stole it and it looked as if they’d dribble out or go to the line.
As it turned out, they did neither. Instead, a Big Blue player fouled Capone, who went to the line with a 1-and-1 opportunity. She missed the front end, and with two seconds to go on the clock, Kearney was fouled and went to the line with a 1-and-1. She, too, missed the front end, but Winthrop could not get the ball back down other end for a shot.
Maura Dorr finished with 12 points for Winthrop.
Swampscott raised its record to 8-5.