REVERE — Saugus High girls basketball coach Mark Schruender always feels a little bit uneasy whenever the Sachems play Revere.
“They seem to have our number,” said Schruender after Friday night’s 62-47 loss to the Patriots at Roland Merullo Field House. “Every time we play them.”
For Matt Willis, in his first year coaching the Patriots, he was looking for someone — anyone — to take a little of the load off co-captain Erika Cheever, who wasn’t feeling well coming into the game.
And although Cheever managed to score 22 points despite feeling under the weather, Willis was just as happy with his other captain, Emily DiGiulio, who didn’t score a point, but was on the mark with her ball distribution and her on- and off-court leadership, he said.
“She ran things tonight,” he said. “She always makes the right play with the ball, and she’s the type of girls who knows exactly what to say to the kids in the huddle, or in the locker room, too. She’s great to have on a team.”
Schruender alluded to DiGiulio’s ball-handling skills, though in a roundabout way.
“We have to do a better job handling the dribbler,” he said. “I thought our shot selection was good, and I loved our work off the glass. This was our best rebounding game all season (Saugus is 4-4). But we have to be better defensively.”
The Sachems had an uphill climb all night, and it started from the opening tip. Revere jumped out to a 5-0 lead and had increased it to 13-7 after a quarter.
However, the Patriots started pulling away at the beginning of the second period, leading 19-9 before Saugus climbed back into the game by virtue of a 7-0 run on baskets by Taylor Bogdanski and Kiley Ronan (a 3-pointer) and two free throws by Marissa Stockwell. This began a trend that was repeated several times over the court of the game. Revere would break into a double-digit lead only to have Saugus climb back to within striking distance.
Revere’s lead was back up to nine points (31-22) at the end of the second quarter, and the Patriots (3-3) were up by 10 (34-24) before Saugus scored five straight points to whittle the deficit back down again. However, by the end of the third quarter, thanks to a 12-4 run, Revere led, 49-35.
Saugus tried to make inroads in the fourth quarter, but things just didn’t fall for the Sachems and Revere continued to pull away.
Cheever was the only Patriot who scored in double figures. Likewise, Alessia Salzillo, with 12 points, was Saugus’ only double-figure scorer.
Kiley Ronan had nine points for Saugus while Taylor Bogdanski, Stockwell and Kiley Ronan had eight each.
For Revere, Caroline Stasio and Carolina Carvalho-Bettero had eight points apiece while Chloe Giordano had six.
