PEABODY — The Saugus and Peabody girls basketball team took turns with cold shooting quarters.
The Sachems scored only two points in the second quarter while the Tanners almost matched them in the third, putting in only four points. Needless to say, this couldn’t be classified as a shootout.
Still, somebody had to win. And it was Peabody, 40-28.
“We had trouble scoring from the outside and from in close,” said Peabody coach Stan McKeen. “We just had a very bad shooting night. But if you can shoot badly, and still survive, I guess that’s a good thing.”
On the other side of the court, Saugus’ Mark Schruender pretty much knew what the Sachems were going to get. Peabody entered the game with a 10-1 record and the Tanners were going to put pressure on his players all over the court.
“We talked a lot about toughness before the game,” he said. “Not necessarily physical toughness, but the type of mental toughness you need in a game like this.
“And I thought we did well,” he said.
Despite a huge size advantage, the two teams were only four points apart (27-23) after Sachem co-captain Fallon Millerick (who tied with Peyton DiBiasio for a team-high eight points) sank a hoop with 6:14 to go in the game — the first basket by either team in the fourth quarter.
McKeen called a timeout, and when the teams returned to the floor, the Tanners sprung a full-court trap on Saugus that resulted in a 10-0 run for Peabody that effectively put the game away.
“We were able to get some turnovers and convert some baskets,” said McKeen.
The one steady scorer for either team was Peabody’s Logan Lomasney, the only player on the floor who scored in double-figures (14 points).
“And,” said McKeen, “I even think she struggled from the floor.”
Schruender expected the trap.
“That’s what they do,” he said.
For a game with such long scoring droughts on both sides, the game got off to a fast start. After a quarter, it was 12-10, with Lomasney starting the game by scoring seven straight points for the Tanners. Saugus kept pace thanks to three-pointers by DiBiasio and Ashleigh Moore.
It being senior night for Peabody, McKeen started his ithree seniors. By the second quarter, though, the Bettencourt brigade was on the floor, and two of them — Isabel and Taylor — got into the act with six points between them as Peabody ran off a 10-0 rally. Millerick and DiBiasio were able to score two hoops before the horn to bring Saugus to within 11, 23-12.
It was Peabody’s turn to go ice cold in the third quarter and Saugus chopped five points off the lead to enter the final period down by six (27-21). Millerick scored to chop the lead down to four before Peabody responded with the trap.
Emma Bloom scored six for Peabody and Isabel Bettencourt five.
Saugus (6-5) hosts Gloucester Tuesday.
Peabody (11-1) plays on the road at Lincoln-Sudbury Monday (5:30).