LYNN — After a high-scoring first quarter, it looked like the Peabody and Classical girls basketball teams might be in for a back-and-forth shootout.
But the Tanners, who have struggled to end up on the winning side of games this year, buckled down on defense and held on to grind out the 45-37 win on the road Friday.
“We’re a young team,” Peabody coach Stan McKeen said. “We’re going to make mistakes and I know that. This is a huge win for us (Friday). We needed this.”
After allowing 17 points and trailing the Rams by two after the first, Peabody changed the momentum of the game on a dime. The Tanners allowed just four points in the second quarter and built a lead they never surrendered.
“The first quarter, we did a horrible job of rebounding,” McKeen said. “We weren’t boxing out. (Jean Gupton-Morrison) had a phenomenal game for (Classical). But we played better defense down the stretch. Yeah, they got close a couple of times, but we were able to maintain possession of the ball and move it around.”
Whenever Peabody needed a big basket they turned to sophomore Emma Bloom and she delivered with a game-high 15 points.
“She is not afraid to go to the hoop with the ball,” McKeen said. “She plays great defense. She did a great job playing in the middle of that 3-2 defense. She was our star player here (Friday), without question.”
For the Rams, Gupton-Morrison notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Ava Thurman also added another 11 points. Overall, a bad shooting night doomed Classical.
“I say this all the time, ‘basketball is a shot-making game and you have to make shots,'” Rams coach Tom Sawyer said. “We had 17 to start the game which is probably the biggest quarter we had all year long. It looked good. Then we struggled in that second quarter and got down by six at half. That was roughly the final score so we played even from there.
“We were 11-of-23 from the foul line. That hurts. With that said, no kid goes up there to miss foul shots. But if we shoot a little bit better at the foul line it’s a little bit tighter of a game and who knows what happens.”
The first quarter was filled with back-and-forth offensive play. Gupton-Morrison started the night with four straight points but Peabody responded fast. The Rams just edged out Peabody the rest of the way to take a 17-15 lead before the second.
The next 16 minutes were all about the Peabody defense. The Tanners limited Classical to just 12 points over the second and third quarters and built a 36-29 lead before the fourth.
Bloom, along with Amber Kiricoples (nine points, 11 rebounds) and Isabel Bettencourt (eight points) highlighted the effort.
“Amber always plays well,” McKeen said. “She made some tactical errors but she’s a tough kid around the basket. Isabel Bettencourt played well. She hit a couple of 3’s to keep our lead up when it looked like we might relinquish it. She plays great defense and she moves the ball a lot.”
Classical went on some small runs in the fourth, even cutting the lead to three points, but Bloom added a crucial late basket and Peabody made its free throws to seal the win.
“We got it to one possession,” Sawyer said. “We had some good shots to even get it closer, just couldn’t get over the hump and get a little more pressure on them.”
Both teams are back on the court Tuesday. Classical (4-6) will hope to rebound at crosstown rival English (7) while the Tanners (3-6) hopes to keep up the winning formula at Beverly (7).
