PEABODY — The Bishop Fenwick girls basketball team got off to a blazing hot start and never looked back Wednesday night, rolling to a 69-11 victory over Catholic Central League foe Arlington Catholic on its home court. The Crusaders played stifling defense all game long, not allowing a single point until the 5:30 mark of the second quarter.
“We came out hot and played hard the whole night,” said Fenwick coach Adam DeBaggis. “The girls have been working hard at both ends and it’s really starting to show in our results.”
Junior Nasha Arnold had a big game for the Crusaders with 18 points, while junior Olivia Found nearly had a double-double with 13 points and eight assists. Senior captain Brynn Bertucci had a big game on the defensive end, finishing with 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Fenwick couldn’t have gotten off to a more perfect start in this one, flying out of the gates to take a 15-0 lead in the opening minutes. Behind strong defense and some can’t-miss shooting, Fenwick eventually took a 27-0 lead into the second quarter.
“Our defense has pretty much been there all year, but over the past few games we’ve really started to take good shots and make a lot of them,” said DeBaggis. “If we can play like we have been offensively, we’re going to be tough to beat.”
The Crusaders didn’t let up from there, extending its lead to 31 points before Arlington Catholic was able to get on the scoreboard. The 30-plus point margin held for the rest of the game, with Fenwick taking a 45-3 lead into halftime.
A number of reserve players were able to see significant minutes in the second half for Fenwick, which DeBaggis says is a key for continuing to build confidence and experience all the way down the roster.
“It’s in games like this that I wish I even had a few more JV players who I could give some minutes to, because it’s always important to keep building that experience,” said DeBaggis. “You can put girls out there and work on things in game situations, and those are the things you can’t simulate in practice.”
Fenwick (9-4) will host Bishop Stang in the CCL Cup quarterfinal Saturday afternoon (1).
“We’re feeling pretty good right now with how we’re playing, but we know that we can’t look past Stang at all,” said DeBaggis. “That’s a tough team we’re going up against and we know we’re going to have to continue playing well if we want to win and move on in the CCL Cup.”
