The girls’ basketball team met their match in the Saugus Sachems, dropping their second straight game in a 40-52 defeat.
Sophomore Olivia Madruga led the team with 13 points as captain Taiya Mano and Jordan Perdue-DelTorchio scored 11.
Natasha DePaula was the first to score for the Fishermen, bucketing a free throw before Madruga scored around the rim. Mano had a three-pointer before the end of the half, where the Fishermen trailed 6-11.
Madruga led the 2nd quarter with 5 points, including a strong three-pointer from the top of the circle.
The Fishermen woke up in the third quarter, scoring a total of 11 points in the 8-minute period. Saugus merely inched away from the Fishermen throughout the possessions, but the Fishermen responded back with a 5-point performance from Mano.
While only trailing 24-26, the Fishermen were fired up for a comeback. The Sachems had other plans for the final period, exploding with a game-best 26-point quarter. This included two-time all-conference pick Peyton DiBiasio, who scored her 1,000th point on a free throw midway through the fourth.
Mano bucketed her third three-pointer of the day as teammates DelTorchio and Madruga made valiant efforts to catch up to Saugus. It wasn’t enough, however, and the Fishermen dropped to an 0-2 record in their opening home stead.
“I think we could’ve done a better job at the press break,” Head coach Tom McDonald said post-game. “We just have to keep improving on the turnovers. [We wanted] to make them beat us. I thought we did that tonight so that’s something we can build on.”
On the improved performance, McDonald praised his starting lineup for stepping up. “[We] improved on everything. I thought we played as a team. Gabby contributed. Natasha was more confident. The three [Mano, DelTorchio, and Madruga] played better than last game. If we played like this last game, we would’ve won. This is definitely something to build off of.”
The girls face off in Masconomet this Friday, hoping to make a large wave against another tough NEC opponent.
