LYNN — Most teams will improve in some way as the year goes on, but there’s no better late-season measuring stick than to knock off a team that got the better of you the first time around. That was the case for the Saugus girls basketball team Tuesday night as a late second-half run lifted the Sachems past English, 42-30, at Paul Cavanagh Field House.
“The beginning of the year is always tough,” Saugus coach Mark Schruender, whose Sachems lost to the Bulldogs to start the season, said. “We had some snow outs. But these kids have worked at practice. (Assistant coaches) Erik Stockwell and Chris Brablc, they do an unbelievable job preparing them. But these kids, our seniors are unbelievable. They’re so disciplined and it trickles down. It was great growth (Tuesday).”
Molly Granara had a monster game for Saugus just missing a double-double with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Taylor Bogdanski led the Sachems in scoring with 12 points and six rebounds while Jessica Nazzaro added nine points.
“Molly has been playing unbelievable,” Schruender said. “The best basketball I’ve ever seen her play the last couple games. She’s a fantastic kid. When you have a great kid that’s being a team leader for you, it rubs off on everybody else.”
While the Bulldogs missed a chance to lock up the Northeast Conference title, coach Mackenzie Charles has nothing but respect for the Sachems.
“That’s a really good team,” Charles said. “That’s the team I expected to see in the first game. We won by 20 then, but it was so early. They have good players and are well coached, I give all the credit to Saugus.”
Jessica Ruiz (nine points, six rebounds) and Julianna Perry (seven points, three rebounds) led a Bulldogs team that struggled to produce offense.
“We have to show up when the lights are on,” Charles said. “Our senior core group has to learn that. We’re just struggling with that but we’ll get back to work (Wednesday).”
It was a back-and-forth defensive game early on. Kiley Ronan’s four-straight points to end the first quarter gave Saugus a 13-9 edge.
Things stayed tight in the second before Bogdanski grabbed a steal and scored at the buzzer to give Saugus a 20-16 lead before the half.
The Sachems came out of the break on fire. Saugus’ defense got everything started with three steals that turned right into offense in transition. Nazzaro capped off the run with a pair of 3-pointers to put Saugus ahead 32-18.
“It was just kids making plays,” Schruender said of the run. “Our defense led to offense. Kids weren’t hesitating. I think all these kids know they belong. Their confidence was great. We said in the locker room, they’re going to come out firing in the second half so we have to bring the intensity. We did.”
English spent the rest of the game trying to claw back into the game, but couldn’t dig itself out of the hole.
Mashayla Johnson’s 3-pointer midway through the fourth cut the lead to 33-28 but it was all Saugus the rest of the way.
Now both English (12-3) and Saugus (12-3) will have a chance to clinch shares of the NEC title by the time the season ends.
“It’s a whole mess but we didn’t need to be apart of it,” Charles said. “We win this game (Tuesday), we have our destiny in our own hands. That’s a part of the game though. We need to learn how to lose. The strange thing is we did a whole lot of losing a few years ago. Now we lose a game and it’s like the end of the world. They’ll get better though, I like this group.”
The Bulldogs are at Classical Friday (7) while Saugus travels to Revere Thursday (7).
