SAUGUS — The Saugus girls basketball team (5-2) was ready to go Tuesday night when it hosted Danvers for a Northeastern Conference showdown. The Sachems, behind backcourt duo Peyton DiBiasio (17 points) and Ella Castle (17 points, 5 threes), defeated Danvers with ease, 51-22.
After a tight first quarter in which the Sachems held a three-point lead (10-7), the hosts exploded in the second.
Saugus, behind its stifling press and suffocating defense, consistently forced the Falcons into turnovers. When Saugus controlled the ball, its ball movement and shot-making overpowered Danvers, too.
One player who had it going in the second quarter was Castle. She went on an 8-2 run on her own, which included a deep straightaway three – sending the Sachems’ faithful into a frenzy.
“Tonight’s the first time all year that she shot confidently,” said Saugus coach Joe Lowe. “The other day, we talked about how teams collapse on Peyton, and she said in the film session to ‘Give me the ball.’ Not in a negative way, but she wanted the ball when she’s open and that’s what happened tonight… I was very proud of her for shooting with confidence.”
Saugus outscored Danvers 17-4 in the second quarter for a 27-11 halftime cushion.
When asked about his team’s defense holding Danvers to just four second-quarter points, Lowe talked about his players understanding their assignments and executing.
“In all of our games so far, we have been digging down on bigs and when they kick it out, we’ve been scrambling [and] chasing their three-point shooters,” Lowe said. “They played true to their assignments tonight and I thought that was the difference. I don’t know how many threes they (Falcons) hit, but we were able to get out to our assignments better tonight by staying true to our jobs.”
The defense continued to show why it has only dropped two games this year, and behind that solid defense, the offense started with DiBiasio.
The point guard’s unselfish play and ability to get to her spots opens everything up for the Sachems. On a night like Tuesday, when teams crashed in on DiBiasio, Castle was the beneficiary.
“I think Ella Castle and Peyton were great. Ella missed all of last year, but when she shoots like that, we’re very difficult to beat. She missed all of last year and she missed some time at the start of this year,” Lowe said. “When Peyton plays like that and facilitates, she’s tough to stop. For us, by them doing that, it allows us to get into our press.”
If there was another part of the game the Sachems were good at Tuesday night, it was making the extra pass.
In the second quarter, came the play of the game. Ana Silva recovered a loose ball, pushed it up the court, and found Devany Millerick in the paint. Millerick waited for the defense to collapse on her before finding an open Taylor Deleidi in the corner, who buried a triple.
“That’s something (ball movement) we’ve been preaching since last year. When we lose games and struggle to score from last year to this year, it’s when we take first-shot passes,” Lowe said. “We’ve been emphasizing ball movement over and over in practice. And in the last few games, we’ve been doing it and you saw the results today.”
The shooting, combined with stellar defense, was too much for the Falcons as the Sachems picked up their fifth win of the season.
“We were a bit slow to start the year… I thought we played our most complete game offensively, defensively, and rebounding,” Lowe said. “From our press, to our zone, to our assignments, everything was complete today.”
The Sachems’ next game is Friday when they welcome the Big Blue of Swampscott for a 6 p.m. clash.
