MARBLEHEAD — The Marblehead girl’s basketball team took care of business on Monday night when it defeated Cristo Rey Boston 61-7.
It’s easy for a team to play down to the competition or lose focus, but the Magicians stuck to their game plan and got everyone involved.
“We just wanted to get a lot of kids in and continue to try and move the ball,” Magicians coach Paul Moran said. “They’re a Boston team so they’re usually pretty athletic. They’re good and those kids played hard.”
In the first half, senior guard Zoi Guzzini stole the ball from her defender and dribbled up the court. As she crossed half court a Cristo Rey defender tried to reach in for a steal, but Guzzini crossed the ball to her other hand taking out the defender. Then Guzzini found junior teammate Greta Sachs for the easy layup to make it 13-2 late in the first quarter.
The Marblehead offense continued to find the open teammate and its unselfishness led to 13 Magicians scoring at least two points. The Magicians ball movement was crisp, while their backdoor cuts led to open layups throughout the game.
“We had a lot of backdoor cuts so we did a good job on that end,” Moran said.
Marblehead led 37-5 at halftime, and then only allowed two points in the second half as the team’s defense was hard to break down.
“We started in a zone but switched to man. It’s good to be versatile. We’re going to see how other teams play and we’ll base our decision on that,” Moran said.
Moran was happy with the team’s performance and emphasized that it was a team win and that they played well on both sides of the court.
“I thought as a team everyone got in and played well. It was a good team win,” Moran said. “We have a tough game against Beverly tomorrow.”
In the second half the unselfishness continued as Tessa Andriano used a screen from Carys Moran, Andriano drew the second defender before passing it to Carys Moran who finished the layup.
Sachs led all scorers with 12 points, while Andriano chipped in with seven. Ramona Gillett, Sierra Lienberry, Sophie Bacon, and Moran all scored six points each.
The Magicians will have a short turnaround as they travel to Beverly on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game.
