PEABODY — You wouldn’t be wrong if you chalked up the Peabody girls basketball team’s 47-21 win over Beverly Friday night as the “march of the Bettencourts.”
Three of the four members of the team named Bettencourt scored 24 of those 47 points. Taylor Bettencourt, daughter of Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr., led the way with nine points. Right behind her were head football and baseball coach Mark Bettencourt’s two daughters — Isabel (eight points) and Abigail (seven points).
Those three, along with co-captain Emma Bloom (six points) were the primary offensive weapons for the Tanners, who won their second straight game to open the season.
“It was a good win,” said Peabody coach Stan McKeen. “I thought our defense played really well and shut them (Beverly) down.”
“I think our trap was the difference in the game,” said McKeen. “At one point I think it was 15-2, and we never looked back.
“I thought Taylor did a good job running the offense,” said McKeen.
The Panthers never got on track. After Lindsey Gannon got the opening basket of the game, the Panthers were blanked for the rest of the first quarter while the Tanners, with the three Bettencourts accounting for the first eight points, scoring the next 15.
Neither team hit many baskets in the second quarter and at the half, the Tanners led 21-5.
Beverly got more consistent scoring in the second half, though neither team shot very well from outside; and Peabody had some trouble finishing on a lot of its opportunities too.
“If there’s one thing, I wish we could have finished around the basket better,” said McKeen. “But I’m not complaining.”
After three quarters it was 36-16, and the only three-pointer of the game up until that point came courtesy of Beverly’s Grace Coughlin. However, as soon as the fourth quarter began, Peabody got a trey of its own, from Gina Terrazzano. From there, things stayed pretty much the way they had been the entire game.
“Everybody contributed,” McKeen said. “Everybody got into the game. I was pretty pleased.”
McKeen said Lauryn Mendonca also played well for the Tanners, and finished with three points but was essential on the Tanners’ trap.
Coughlin led the way for Beverly with five points, followed by Gannon (four points), and Nylah Olliviere (three points).
Peabody (2-0) is back in action Monday (7) on the road at Gloucester.
