LYNN — The Swampscott girls basketball team outplayed Northeastern Conference opponent English for a 48-24 win at Paul Cavanagh Field House Tuesday.
Nikki Rosa led the way for the Big Blue on both sides of the court, holding English’s Mashayla Johnson to six points while scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sophie DiGrande (12 points, eight rebounds) also made key shots.
“Nikki’s assignment tonight was to shut down Mashayla,” Swampscott coach Katelyn Leonard said. “We know she’s an excellent player and we wanted to try to make someone else win it for them. I can’t say enough about the effort. Nikki followed her the entire game and then offensively as well she fought the whole game.
“Offensively we just kept telling Sophie to take it to the basket,” Leonard added. “She’s fantastic at finding those little holes and getting herself to the rim.”
Despite holding the Big Blue scoreless for more than six minutes to start the second half, the Bulldogs couldn’t get anything going offensively.
“We didn’t put up enough points to win a game,” English coach Mackenzie Charles said. “We dug ourselves into a whole in the first half because we didn’t play hard enough. Swampscott’s a good team. They play good team basketball, they share the basketball and I hope my team can learn a lot from playing them.”
Swampscott took control early thanks to two steals by Grace DiGrande and an offensive rebound by Ella Sprague. Midway through the first quarter Katie Watts hit a 3-pointer to put the Big Blue ahead 7-2.
After leading 13-6 heading into the second quarter, the Big Blue extended their lead. Sophie DiGrande added a basket and 3-pointer and Rosa added a three of her own to help Swampscott take a nine-point edge. The Big Blue kept their feet on the gas, carrying a 24-15 lead into the half.
“We knew English was a tough team,” Leonard said. “We knew coming out in the third quarter they were going to go right at us. We just talked about fighting through adversity and weathering the storm. We wanted to stick to our game plan and it turned out well for us.”
Thanks to their defense, the Bulldogs clawed back into the game in the third quarter. Stacy Abreu (nine points, eight rebounds) converted an and-one and added another basket to help cut Swampscott’s lead to 24-20 late in the third quarter. But that was just about all the offense English could put together before the Big Blue started to heat up again.
“We will watch the film and critique possessions,” Charles said. “We just don’t value possessions enough. We aren’t working hard enough either. You have to be consistent. That’s what you usually get with a young team is a lack of consistency. I think that’s the biggest issue we have right now.”
Watts finally got Swampscott back on the board in the third with a key 3-pointer that helped the Big Blue get back on track. From there Swampscott’s defense was dominant, allowing just four points the rest of the way.
“We were struggling at the beginning of the game,” Leonard said. “I think they were getting a little too much penetration. We just talked about getting in to help, clogging up the paint and forcing their drivers to have to kick out. It worked and we did a fantastic job to close the game.”
Leading by eight at the start of the fourth quarter, Rosa and Sophie DiGrande took over for the Big Blue. The two combined for 12 points in the final minutes to put the game out of reach.
Both teams are back in action later this week with NEC tilts. The Big Blue (9-1) will host Revere Friday (7) while English visits Saugus Thursday (7).
