SWAMPSCOTT — Winthrop and Swampscott are two young teams still finding their identities two weeks into the season. Tuesday evening, Winthrop picked up its first win of the season, 32-26.
Basketball is a game of runs, and throughout this one, both sides put them together.
Swampscott ended the third quarter on a high with freshman Anna Kanders (11 points) sinking a 3-pointer before Olivia Quagrello stole the ensuing inbound pass and found Kanders, who got fouled and sank both free throws. The quick 5-0 run resulted in the Big Blue cutting the Vikings’ lead to three (25-22) heading into the fourth.
Unfortunately for Swampscott, the Vikings answered. Winthrop went on a 6-0 run to take a 31-22 lead with 4:30 remaining in the game. Amina Barry and Bailey Ferguson were the scorers during the run that put Swampscott in a hole.
“This was our first game of the season. We lost an all-conference player (Grace Fleuriel) and two all-stars (Kaylee Farrell and Reese Brodin). We didn’t really know our team identity,” said Winthrop coach Anthony Hatzisavas. “Our goal is to play man-to-man defense and we held them to 26 points, which is the best we’ve held a team since I started coaching here. … It was a defense-first type of game and I’m very proud of the team. I think they handled the adversity because we made a couple of mistakes that we shouldn’t have made, but we’re a young team and they’ll learn from it.”
Swampscott tried to make one more comeback – cutting the deficit to five points – but couldn’t get over the hump. The Big Blue missed a few in-and-out threes late that would’ve made things interesting.
“We’re really young and, tonight, we just couldn’t buy a basket. It was tough finding the offense and finding the right combinations,” said Swampscott coach Katelyn Leonard.
Winthrop may have graduated three key contributors from last season, but Hatzisavas believes everyone on this year’s team is capable of stepping up when needed.
“We have 10 on our roster and I think all 10 can compete at a high level,” he said. “We won’t play 10 every night, but I think every game, we can have a different player step up. Angela Tshowa is probably going to be one of our leading scorers – she only scored three points. Lily Conway, who’s a senior captain, gave it her all on defense. She’s not looking at the stat sheet; she’s giving it her all each game.”
One player who stepped up throughout Tuesday’s entirety was Vikings’ guard Sophia Lindinger, who consistently halted Swampscott runs with 3-pointers.
“She hit such timely threes. She’s always in the right spot. She’s a senior captain that brings the energy every day. When the girls see her going, they get going,” Hatzisavas said.
Leonard was happy with how her underclassmen-heavy team didn’t quit.
“We kept making comebacks and we never quit on the game. It wasn’t a lack of effort. I felt our defense was really good, holding them to just 32 points,” she said. “It just came down to executing our offense. We’re learning, we’re young, we’re putting a new system in place, and we’re taking our lumps.”
When asked how the team can get its offense to click, Leonard pointed to practice and experience.
“Each game, we want to get better and cut down our turnovers. We’re just getting used to working as a unit and that’ll come with time and practice,” she said. “We can learn a lot from games like this.”
Winthrop is back in action on Friday when it travels to Danvers for a 6:30 p.m. game, while Swampscott looks to get back in the win column the same evening when it visits Peabody at 6 p.m.
