PEABODY — Right now, coaching seems to be the biggest issue for the Bishop Fenwick girls basketball team … as in “who’s behind the bench tonight?”
Head coach Adam DeBaggis has been hors de combat for the last week, and the person taking his place — Dave Harrington — is away for the holidays. That left it up to the Sydneys — Southern and Brennan — to pilot the Crusaders in their Christmas Classic opener against Haverhill Monday night.
No problem. Fenwick got out to a bigger lead than Amy Schneider, the current champion on “Jeopardy” who leaves everyone in the dust halfway through the first round. And the Crusaders had no trouble making it to Thursday’s final with a 60-25 romp over the Hillies.
“I have to give the girls a lot of credit, adjusting to the different coaches they’ve had,” said Brennan, who played for DeBaggis when Fenwick won a state championship in 2015. “We have a lot of leadership on the floor, and the captains did a very good job of providing it.”
Brennan said the Crusaders didn’t know much about Haverhill coming into the game, but the Hillies’ speed and quickness was definitely something Fenwick had to overcome. No problem there. The Crusaders simply shot their lights out of the basket in the first half in building leads of 15-5 after a quarter and 33-15 at the end of the half.
The main two scorers for Fenwick were senior guard Olivia Found, who sunk some long-distance threes en route to leading everybody with 23 points; and Cecilia Kay, a sophomore 6-1 forward who sliced and diced her way to 14. Haverhill had no answer for that kind of balance.
The teams were tied at 3-3 early in the first quarter — the only time the score was ever close — before Fenwick ran off 12 straight points to go up 15-3, before a basket by Kya Burdier (eight points) got one back at the end of the period.
Fenwick kept building on that lead throughout the second quarter as the game fell into a pattern of Fenwick scoring two baskets for every one by Haverhill.
Fenwick substituted freely in the second half, but the Crusaders margin stayed about the game. And in the fourth quarter, the crowd was treated to a pretty good ball-handling and passing exhibition by junior Erica Lendall, who handed out two assists in rapid succession to go along with scoring five points — including a 3-pointer as time ran out.
“I’m glad everybody had a chance to get in the game,” Brennan said.
Ella Andrews finished with eight points for Fenwick. Lexi DeOliveria matched Burdier’s eight points for Haverhill, which plays Masconomet Thursday in the consolation game.
Fenwick (4-1) will host Rockland Thursday (7).
