Swampscott girls to resume Pentucket rivalry in D3 North

The Pentucket and Swampscott girls basketball teams are no strangers to each other in the last three seasons.The two heavy hitters in Division 3 North have met five times in that stretch, with the Sachems winning four of the five games, two of them coming in the last two North semifinals.The Big Blue finally got over the hump this season, dishing out only one of two losses suffered by Pentucket (the other by Division 1 North finalist Central Catholic) this season in the finals of the Haverhill Christmas Tournament.So it seemed only right in the minds of many local basketball fans that the two would cross paths again in the month of March. And this afternoon (noon) at Emmanuel College in Boston, they will get their wish with nothing short of the North championship and a trip to TD BankNorth Garden on the line.”We talked with the girls and said that your major rival is usually a team in your league,” Swampscott coach Jack Hughes said. “But for the last three years, our really big rival has been Pentucket.”The two teams each lost only twice in the regular season, with the Sachems getting the nod for the top seed by virtue of 19 wins to Swampscott’s 18. Yet it was the Big Blue’s win over the Christmas break in the first battle between the two that Hughes sees as a big thing for his team entering today.”That win was big for us because they had won the other games. Now our kids know that we can beat them,” Hughes said.Pentucket earned a first round bye, resulting in their playing only one game in 18 days before a 38-27 win over St. Mary’s on Thursday in the semifinals at Methuen High.The Big Blue, meanwhile, also had a bye and breezed through Weston and Stoneham, where they scored 79 points, to earn their spot at Emmanuel.Hughes knows his team’s task won’t be easy today as it faces a team that placed four players on the Cape Ann League’s all-league team and had a fifth named an all-star.Leading the way is 6-3 senior forward Kirsten Daamen, who is bound for Division 1 Central Connecticut State. Daamen was the CAL Large MVP after finishing the season with averages of 13.2 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.”It seems that each year, more and more of their offense goes through Daamen. She’s a D1 player and rightfully so,” Hughes said.Fellow senior forward Andrea Attenasio joined her on the all-league squad along with junior guards Erin McNamera and Ashley Viselli. The Sachems third guard, Holly Jakobsons, also was named to the all-star team.Swampscott isn’t without weapons of its own to call upon, led by NEC South co-MVP’s Tara Nimkar and Allie Beaulieu.The two are part of a senior class that lost once in four years on its home floor and a combined nine times overall over the last four. And if not for Pentucket, they could have been playing for a fourth consecutive North title, having taken the title as freshmen.”It’s only fitting that Tara and Allie were named co-MVP’s because that’s what they deserved this year,” Hughes said. “No matter what happens (today), this group of seniors really has made its mark on the program.”But Hughes also realizes that the rest of the cast around his two MVP’s, including Marissa Gambale, Kara Gilberg and Tara Gallagher, will have to help shoulder the load.”One of the keys against this team is that that you need the kids who don’t usually contribute to score. That was the big thing the first time around,” Hughes said.No matter what, the veteran Swampscott coach knows that this game will be no different than the previous five.”The others have been some great games and even though we’ve lost, they have been some of the best games I’ve coached in,” Hughes said.