PEABODY — Stayin’ alive.
That’s what Peabody girls basketball coach Stan McKeen said his team has been doing over the last six games.
In a must-win Senior Night game against Swampscott Monday, the Tanners kept their tournament hopes alive with a 50-40 win over the Big Blue.
Senior Emily Carney led the Tanners with 17 points, while freshman Niya Morgen led the Big Blue with a game-high 18 points.
It was far from easy, however, as the Tanners, who have struggled all season long closing out games, appeared to be on the verge of letting another large lead slip away, but, fittingly, it was a senior who came to the rescue in the final quarter.
“The last three or four games Emily has really stepped up,” said McKeen. “She was clutch (Monday) especially in that fourth quarter. We have been waiting for her to step up as the scorer we know she can be, and she was that person in this game.”
While disappointed with the outcome on the scoreboard, Big Blue coach Katelyn Leonard was happy with her team’s effort,
“We spotted them 17 points and that was killer to have to recover from,” Leonard said. “We are a young team and it would have been very easy for them to quit, but I am proud of the way they fought back and got back into the game. Their effort just doesn’t show up on the scoreboard.”
Prior to the game, the Tanners honored their three senior captains — Georgia Leon, Colleen Crotty and Carney.
The Big Blue led 2-0 just 15 seconds into the game on a Maddie Hudson layup. That was as good as it got for Swampscott as the Tanners went on a 20-2 run to close out the first frame with a 20-4 lead. Carney (two 3-pointers), Leon and Emma Bloom hit key threes to fuel the run.
Peabody bumped the lead to 18 at 26-8 after Bloom hit a jumper with about three minutes left in the half, but the Big Blue responded in a big way, closing out the half with an 8-0 run to go into the halftime break down by 10, 26-16. A big play was a 4-point play by Morgen, who was fouled while making a key 3-pointer and converted the free throw.
Swampscott started the third with a Hudson (four points) bucket and 3-pointer from Morgen to close to within five at 26-21 a minute into the third quarter.
A 3-pointer from Bettencourt and old fashioned 3-point play from Amber Kiricoples gave the Tanners some breathing room at 32-21, but the Big Blue answered with a big three from Chloe Rakauskas (four points), an offensive board and put-back from Ella Sprague (four points, 12 rebounds) and a steal and coast-to-coast layup from Morgen that made it 32-28 with under a minute to go.
Peabody closed out the quarter with 3-pointers from Bettencourt and Carney to bump the lead back up to 10, 38-28 with eight minutes to go in the game.
Swampscott got the lead down to four, 40-36 after Morgen converted a pair of free throws with 4:24 to go, but that was as close as the Big Blue came, thanks to Carney and Bettencourt. All Carney did was close with six points on her fourth 3-pointer of the game and 3-of-4 free throws, including a clutch one-and-one that made it 48-38 with 35 seconds to go. Bettencourt followed with another pair of free throws on a one-and-one.
For the Big Blue, Brooke Matella finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
For Peabody, Kiricoples finished with nine points and 12 boards, while Aja Alimonte had two points and six boards.
“I told the girls this is like the old BeeGees song, ‘Stayin Alive’, because that is what we have been doing the last six games with five wins,” McKeen said. “Right now, every game is a tournament game for us as if we don’t win, the season is over.”
Peabody is back in action Thursday at NEC rival Saugus (7), while Swampscott’s next game is Wednesday against Manchester-Essex at home (7).
