SWAMPSCOTT — The Swampscott girls basketball team only needed one win to get into the Division 2 North semifinal, but it sure was a tough one. After a back-and-forth battle against No. 5 North Reading, the No. 4 Big Blue made some huge plays down the stretch to earn a hard-fought 49-47 win last Wednesday.
“I think it really showed just how tough our team is in critical situations,” said Swampscott coach Katelyn Leonard. “We had our issues throughout the game, but in the end we were able to make the plays when we had to and it really showed our toughness.”
Leading the way in that quarterfinal win, and all season long for that matter, was the senior trio of Nikki Rosa, Grace DiGrande and Katie Watts. Rosa, who led the team in scoring this year, scored 16 points in the first half en route to a big double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. DiGrande added 15 points, while Watts hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game when she knocked down a 3-pointer to extend the Big Blue’s lead late in the fourth quarter.
And as Leonard notes, it’s not just on the court where the three senior leaders shine.
“They’ve been special all year, all three of them,” said Leonard. “They’re all very talented players and do a lot of things for us on the court, but they also lead the way off the court. They’ve really taken on the role of bringing the team together and doing the little things, which in turn has allowed me to focus more on the bigger picture for our whole team. It’s all worked out really well for us this year.”
It also helps that the trio is leading the team in another category: competitive fire.
“They want to go all the way, and they want it bad,” Leonard said. “This has been a goal for all of them in their final season, and they’re not going to go down without a fight.”
And so now Swampscott (16-5) is on its way to the semifinal round, where the Big Blue will meet possibly their toughest test of the season in No. 1 Pentucket (20-3). The Sachems rolled to a big win over No. 8 Wilmington (61-34) in the quarterfinal round, and Leonard knows that it’ll be no easy task to pull out a win.
“Over the past few days I’ve watched a lot of film on (Pentucket), and they are a very impressive team,” Leonard said. “They play great defense first and foremost, so we’ll have to be disciplined on offense and be unselfish to find the best shot. We’ll also have to bring as much heat as we can defensively and try to get Pentucket off its game. We’re probably going to have to pull out all the stops to get this win, but if we come out strong like we’re capable of doing I think we can compete with any team.”
Swampscott and Pentucket will tip off Wednesday night (7) at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School in Haverhill.
