SWAMPSCOTT — Every basketball team has had a night where the shots simply don’t fall, no matter how many you put up. Unfortunately for the Swampscott girls basketball team, that night came on Thursday.
The Big Blue simply couldn’t get any offensive rhythm going on their home court Thursday, falling to Manchester-Essex by a score of 38-30 in a non-conference bout.
Prior to the game, the Big Blue honored their group of 12 seniors — Sophie DiGrande, Sasha DiVall, Grace Hudson, Maddie Hudson, Nagida Lennon, Brooke Matela, Rajaan Muse, Olivia Passalacqua, Paige Quagrello, Angela Spathanas and Tiara Teel — for their contributions to the program over the past four years.
Spathanas led the way in the loss for Swampscott, notching a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Maddie Hudson added eight points and six rebounds, while Chloe Rakauskas had four points and four rebounds. DiGrande finished with three points and five rebounds, while Matela (two points, four rebounds), Quagrello (two points, two rebounds) and DiVall (two points, one rebound) also played well.
Although the Big Blue notched the first basket of the game, scoring was hard to come by for Swampscott. A late run from Manchester-Essex put the Hornets ahead 9-5 after one quarter.
Things got a little better in the second quarter, as the Big Blue battled back to tie the score before going into the halftime break down just one point, 16-15.
But that’s as close as Swampscott would come. After losing DiGrande — who was their main ballhandler — to an injury late in the second, the Big Blue’s rhythm was thrown off. It allowed Manchester-Essex to stretch the lead to 11 points by the end of the third quarter and get ahead by as many as 14 points in the fourth.
But the Big Blue fought until the end, cutting the deficit to just five points before they ran out of time and were forced to foul. The Hornets hit their free throws and walked away with the win.
Swampscott (7-5) is now off until Tuesday (7) when it hosts Winthrop.
