PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
English’s Mashayla Johnson drives baseline on Saugus’ Marisa Stockwell.
By GORDON VINCENT
LYNN – The revival of the Saugus High girls’ basketball program continues, as the Sachems sprinted to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and held on for a 64-53 win over Lynn English, Friday night, at Cavanagh Gym.
The Sachems, who won just two games last year, improved to 6-3. Mikayla Niles led Saugus with 16 points, while Krissy Italiano added 14 and freshman Alessia Salzillo chipped in with 10. The well-balanced Saugus squad starts two sophomores and uses two freshmen as the first two players off the bench.
“I think we’ve had six different players be our leading scorer in a game this year,” Saugus coach Mark Schruender said. “These girls don’t care who scores the points. They play very unselfish basketball.”
For English, Ely Guity led all scorers with 19 points, while Dorothy Ezemba and Mashayla Johnson added 10 each. The Bulldogs (1-6) continue to improve, but still lack the consistency to put together a complete basketball game. They trailed, 22-8, in the first 10 minutes last night and couldn’t make it all the way back.
“That’s been our story. We fell behind early in the game and we can’t afford to fall behind early in games,” English coach Rachael Bradley said. “But hat’s off to Saugus. They’re a very good team and they played very well tonight.”
A 3-pointer by Johnson keyed a 12-2 run that got English as close as four points (24-20) with minutes left in the first half, but a fast-break layup by Rachel Nazzaro helped the Sachems restore their lead to eight points at halftime.
A runner by Guity got English back to within four points again early in the third quarter, but English couldn’t make a field goal for the rest of the period and Saugus closed out the quarter on a 14-2 run.
The Sachems increased their lead to 18 points a couple of times in the fourth quarter before Guity led a comeback, scoring nine points in the final period. A jumper from the right elbow by English’s Tommi Hill closed Saugus’ lead to 59-48 with 1:50 left in the game, but Italiano answered with a fast break layup and then Niles sank a line drive runner from the baseline to put the Sachems back on top by 15 points.
A layup by Guity and a 3-pointer by Hill got the Bulldogs’ deficit back to 10 with 29 seconds left, but English couldn’t get Saugus to the foul line until there were 9.3 seconds remaining. Saugus’ Olivia Valente made one of two free throws to account for the final score.
“We knew even though we had that early lead it wasn’t going to be easy,” Schruender said. “We scouted (English) against Classical and we knew they play with a lot of intensity.”
