SWAMPSCOTT ― When the Triton girls basketball team jumped out to a 13-0 lead Monday night, you wouldn’t have given the Swampscott girls much of a chance to stay in the game, let alone win it.
But win it the Big Blue did ― 40-39 ― when Sophie DiGrande sank a hook shot with 1.4 seconds left in overtime.
The game did not feature stellar shooting, which meant that the only other way Swampscott was going to be able to narrow that deficit and overtake the Vikings was the old-fashioned way: controlling the boards and stifling defense.
And that’s what the Big Blue, 1-0, did.
“I’m so proud of them for the way they boxed out, and the way they played defense,” said Big Blue coach Katelyn Leonard. “Triton is a very good team.”
Olivia Kiricoples, Caitlin Frary and Molly Kimball were the early spark plugs for Triton, scoring 10 of the 13 straight points the Vikings ran off to start the game.
But the Big Blue weren’t about to let that deficit grow any larger. Victoria Quagrello scored the first of her six straight points to get the Big Blue in the scoring column. Her second straight hoop made it 13-4 after a quarter.
The Big Blue were just getting warmed up. They rattled off nine more points in succession, and when Brooke Matela scored midway through the second quarter the Big Blue pulled into a tie.
However, Lia Hathaway hit a 3-pointer to close out the low-scoring half and Triton led, 16-13, at the break.
Triton started strong in the second half, outscoring the Big Blue 6-2 to stretch its lead to 22-15. But just like the first half, Swampcott didn’t let the Vikings pull completely out of sight. And by the end of the third quarter, it was 28-24 Triton.
Victoria Quagrello scored the last of her 10 points to open up the fourth quarter to pull Swampscott to within two, and things see-sawed back and forth from there until the teams staged a wild finish. First, DiGrande banked a 3-pointer off the backboard to tie the game at 33-33. In the blink of an eye, Frary scored at the other end to make it 35-33 with a minute to go in regulation.
But the Vikings turned the ball over, and Chloe Rakauskas was able to hit another trey. However, with 0.7 seconds left, Kimball hit one of two free throws to send the game into overtime.
Matela and Isabelle Baslie traded hoops to start the overtime, and then the two teams went ice cold until the very end, when DiGrande was able to hit her shot to win the game.
Rakauskas led the Blue with 14 points. Victoria Quagrello had 10 and DiGrande nine.
Swampscott (1-0) is right back in action Tuesday night (7) on the road at Salem.
