SWAMPSCOTT — It all came together for the Swampscott girls basketball team Tuesday night, as the Big Blue knocked off previously unbeaten Marblehead, 60-51, behind a full team effort. Shooting was a particular strength for Swampscott in the win, as the Big Blue hit 10 3-pointers as a team — accounting for half of their total points.
“This was a huge win for us,” said Swampscott coach Katelyn Leonard. “We’re a very young team and these girls work so hard every day. It can be tough when you have a record like ours, but we’re in every game and we know that if we put four quarters together then we can beat anyone. We were able to put it all together (Tuesday).”
Chloe Rakauskas was the top scorer for the Big Blue, hitting six 3-pointers and finishing with 24 points and four rebounds.
“She’s a great player, but she’s quiet about it,” Leonard said of Rakauskas. “She sneaks behind the defense and gets open, and when she’s on she can really shoot it.”
Ella Sprague (10 points, seven rebounds) and Maddie Hudson (10 points, four rebounds) also finished in double figures, while Niya Morgen added six points in the win.
Marblehead was led by Emily Clough, who put up a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Leila Walton finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Maddie Erskine had eight points and three rebounds. Fehr Gillet scored six points and added two rebounds.
“I’ve got to give a ton of credit to Swampscott, they just outplayed us,” said Marblehead coach Paul Moran. “They beat us to loose balls, came up with tough rebounds and made plays on offense. I’d love to say we went out there and did some good things, but we didn’t play well enough to win.”
Both teams opened up the game slow on the offensive end. The Magicians took an early lead and held on for the majority of the first quarter, but Swampscott remained close the whole time. The Big Blue eventually came back to tie things up at 8-8, then the two teams exchanged the lead a couple times as the quarter wound to a close. After a buzzer-beating layup by Morgen, Swampscott held a slim 12-11 lead after one.
The second was a back-and-forth affair. Marblehead quickly tied it up at 12-12, then two more ties and four more lead changes followed. Rakauskas and Sprague played well for the Big Blue in the quarter, while Clough and Gillet helped pace the Marblehead offense. The Magicians jumped ahead 17-16 with just over a minute to go, but then back-to-back 3-pointers from Rakauskas and Hudson allowed Swampscott to take a 24-22 lead into the halftime break.
Things remained close early in the second half, but Swampscott started to gain a foothold. After four more lead changes, the Big Blue finally took the lead for good with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter. Rakauskas knocked down two big 3-pointers late and scored nine points in the quarter to help put the Big Blue ahead 41-37 going into the fourth.
Swampscott extended its lead even more in the fourth quarter, jumping ahead by as many as 11 points behind some stifling defense and some clutch shooting. Marblehead closed the gap to just five points with under three minutes to play, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Rakauskas and Hudson put Swampscott back up by 11 and ended any chance of a comeback for the Magicians.
Marblehead (9-1) will look for its tournament-clinching 10th win of the season Thursday night (7) against English.
“The best part about basketball is you can brush yourself off and get right back out there,” Moran said. “We know there’s no nights off in this league, so we’ve got to come out ready to go on Thursday.”
Swampscott (2-7) takes on Matignon Friday (7).
“If we can beat a team like (Marblehead), then we can go toe-to-toe with just about anybody,” Leonard said. “We’ve just got to come in with the same mindset and try to execute out there.”