Basketball Roundup: Peabody girls hoop outlasts Salem

In the end, it turned out to be a solid win by a solid basketball team. How the teams got there is a different story.The Peabody girls basketball team earned its 12th win of the season on Wednesday over a feisty visiting Salem squad, 70-65.Leading the way for the Tanners was Janelle Rodriguez, who scored a career-high 21 points while hauling down nine rebounds and recording two steals.The game came down to the fourth quarter, where Peabody needed to fend off the Witches, who whittled a 53-44 third-period lead for the Tanners down to a difference of four points. A strong effort from the starters and a good performance from the bench proved to be the difference in the win for Peabody (12-3, 11-2 NEC).”They really gave us all we could handle tonight,” said Peabody coach Jane Heil. “They really wouldn’t let us take off and get a big lead.”Adding to the effort for Peabody were Michelle Grifoni and Kristen Federico, who both scored 11 points.Carolyn Henderson led the upset bid for Salem, leading her team in scoring with 20 points.Spellman 45, St. Mary’s 23At Lynn, the Spartans (7-10) tangled with the top-ranked team in the state and came up short. Spellman (15-0) led 25-8 at the half and never let up. Tori Faieta had a triple-double for St. Mary’s with 10 points, 11 steals and 12 rebounds.”We made some mistakes, but I thought the effort was very good. Our biggest problem was we were playing the No. 1 team in the state,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said.BOYS BASKETBALLBoston Latin 79, Saugus 60At Boston, the season’s struggles continued for the traveling Sachems. In the loss for Saugus (5-12), Ryan Anastos led his team in scoring with 26 points.Marblehead 64, Pentucket 39At Pentucket, the Magicians (12-3) led 27-20 at the half and pulled away for good with a 21-point third quarter. Tom Powers had 22 points and seven rebounds and Damola Abu had 16 points and 10 rebounds.