PEABODY — If you’re trailing heading into the fourth quarter by seven points with designs on a comeback, you’ve got to score in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Bishop Fenwick girls basketball team, it was blanked by the Bishop Feehan Shamrocks in the fourth to end up on the wrong end of a 46-31 score.
“The ball just wouldn’t go in. We had lots of good looks, but the shots just would not fall,” said Fenwick coach Adam DeBaggis.
Truer words were never spoken as the Crusaders shot 21 percent from the field and only 31 percent from the free throw line. Trailing 38-31 going into the final frame, they failed to score a single point in the fourth quarter.
“I imagine that (being shutout in the fourth) is a first since I have been coaching,” said DeBaggis. “That’s not a recipe for success for us.”
Annie Murphy had another double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Brynn Bertucci had another solid effort coming in off the bench with four points, seven rebounds and two steals.
Veronica Tache had three points, three rebounds and four steals, while Liz Gonzalez (four points, two assists, rebound), Morginn Kotchian (two points, three rebounds, two steals), Bella Romero (four rebounds) and Maria Orfanos (two points, two steals, assist) also helped the cause.
Fenwick’s troubles began in the first quarter, which ended with the Shamrocks on top, 8-5.
Trailing 19-13 going into the second half, Tache swished a three-pointer late in the third quarter to cut Fenwick’s deficit to seven, 38-31.
But those were the last points of the night for Fenwick. The Shamrocks scored only eight points in the fourth quarter as they put heavy defensive pressure on the Crusaders. When the Crusaders were able to launch a shot, the Shamrocks’ defensive pressure proved to be too much.
The Crusaders also had trouble coping with Feehan’s double teams on defense.
Shamrock coach Amy Delores felt her team did a very strong job contesting each Fenwick shot, and said they battled hard on both ends of the court.
“We did a nice job locking down their starters, the girls did a good job supporting each other and helping each other, we just played very strong defensive basketball,” Delores said. “We took advantage of our opportunities on offense, and we really made it difficult for them to get shots, I don’t think they had many open looks tonight.”
DeBaggis’ team was looking at quarter deficits of three points, nine points and seven points, before getting blanked in the fourth. The coach says the team will have a meeting to get ready for the Friday night home game against Austin Prep.
“We have some work to do,” DeBaggis said. “We played hard, the effort was there, the shots were not dropping for us. We’re 11-6, and we’re right back at if Friday against Austin Prep.”
