FILE PHOTO
Senior Katie Wallace scored 15 points in Peabody’s win over Saugus on “Senior Night.”
By HAROLD RIVERA
PEABODY — Saugus girls basketball coach Mark Schruender was proud of his team’s performance on Friday night at Peabody. Although the Sachems fell to the Tanners, 58-53, the final score doesn’t tell the story. The Sachems fell behind, 52-41, midway through the fourth quarter and climbed back to within one point before Peabody held on to close out the win.
“We knew we had to take it one possession at a time,” Schruender said. “There’s no 11-point play in basketball. We just had to chip away at it, but unfortunately we fell short and ran out of time. It was an unbelievable effort. I’m so proud of our kids.”
The Sachems ran out to an early lead in the first quarter when Alessia Salzillo nailed a three to give Saugus a 9-4 advantage. Peabody stole the lead at 10-9 before Salzillo hit another shot from beyond the arc to re-take the advantage for Saugus at 12-10. Peabody’s Catherine Manning knocked in a pair of free throws to end the quarter at a 12-12 tie.
Things started to turn in Peabody’s favor in the second quarter, with the Tanners offense orchestrating an 8-4 run to start the period. After a Saugus timeout, Peabody added six points to mount a double-digit lead at 26-16. With a pair of late buckets from Hannah Pellizzaro, the Tanners outscored Saugus 20-7 in the quarter and led 32-19 at the half.
“Our fastbreak worked for us,” Peabody coach Stan McKeen said. “We forced a couple of turnovers in that second quarter and we were making our shots.”
Peabody’s zone defense spelled trouble for the Sachems at the end of the half.
“Their 3-2 zone didn’t allow us to execute and do what we wanted to do,” Schruender said. “I give them credit, but we weren’t reversing the ball and our guards needed to attack more, which they did in the second half. Overall, Peabody’s a good team.”
Allie Kotkowski knocked in a three on the opening possession of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 10 at 32-22. Salzillo took center stage in the quarter, scoring nine points in hopes of leading the Sachems back into the contest but Peabody stayed in front, 44-31, at the end of three.
“She’s (Salzillo) relentless,” Schruender said. “She has no quit. She’s our energizer bunny. Her best asset is her defense. Her defense energized our team tonight and led us in that comeback.”
Down 52-41 with four and a half minutes remaining in the game, Peabody looked to have a win in its back pocket. Unfortunately for the Tanners, Saugus made things interesting in the late stages.
Taylor Bogdanski drained a three and Olivia Valente added a bucket for Saugus to trim the deficit to six points at 52-46. Salzillo drove to paint for a make and a drew a foul to get the Sachems closer at 52-49 with just under three minutes left on the clock.
After a stop on the defensive end, Kotkowski knocked home a layup and the Sachems were down a point at 52-51 with two minutes to play. Melissa Gray and Nene Onwuogu made shots to give the Tanners breathing room at 56-51, but Kotkowski answered with a hookshot to make it a one-possession game again.
Katie Wallace sunk a pair of free throws with six seconds remaining to ice the win for Peabody, 58-53.
“They made a great comeback,” McKeen said. “Saugus didn’t get tired. They ran up and down the floor all the time. They created some turnovers and we missed some shots in the fourth quarter. We missed some shots, they got rebounds and they beat us up the court because they’re well-conditioned. Those kids just ran and it was very impressive.”
McKeen added, “We made some key plays down the stretch. We forced Saugus to foul and made the free throws at the end. It was a good game.”
For Saugus, Salzillo led the team with 15 points, while Kotkowski added 11.
Wallace led Peabody with 15 points, while Nene Onwuogu scored 13 and Gray finished with 12.
Both teams are back in action on Monday. Peabody (11-5) visits English and Saugus (14-5) hosts Swampscott.
Before the game, a ceremony was held to honor the seniors on both teams as part of Peabody’s “Senior Night.”
