DANVERS — Swampscott’s girls basketball team (4-2) fell to Hamilton-Wenham 53-39 in the championship game of the inaugural Danvers Holiday Tournament.
The Big Blue placed second after winning their opening-round game against Essex Tech. Hamilton-Wenham took down Danvers before being crowned champion on Tuesday.
Captain Sam Ward (9 points) drilled two threes and Anna Kanders (23) another to give Swampscott a 9-2 lead with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter.
The Generals went on a run, capped by Asa Labell burying a corner three to tie the game 9-9 with 26 seconds left. However, with just eight seconds to go, Swampscott’s Eve Byrne (9 points) sank a 3-pointer to give her team a 12-9 cushion.
The Big Blue were hot from beyond the arc with six threes in the first half, but Hamilton-Wenham carried a 22-19 lead into the break.
“We do launch it,” said Swampscott coach Katelyn Leonard. “It’s great, but at times, you rely on it a little too much and you’re not getting those paint touches.”
Unfortunately for the Big Blue, the second half was all Hamilton-Wenham. The Generals went on a 15-2 run to start the third quarter, which was led by Labell scoring nine of her 15 to give Hamilton-Wenham a 37-21 lead. The run was fueled by its defense that led to steals and transition points.
“I think we kind of beat ourselves. We turned the ball over a lot, which gave them kind of easy possessions. By not controlling the boards, we didn’t give ourselves any of those easy opportunities to break out in the second half,” Leonard said. “Between those things, it was difficult to crawl back into the game.”
The Big Blue were missing injured center Lila Giard — a player Leonard and Swampscott could have used on the glass.
“Credit to them. They played a really great game defensively. They were getting deflections on a lot of our passes,” Leonard said. “This is a learning opportunity for us and we’re going to learn from it and, hopefully, it’ll make ourselves better.”
Despite a sickness and injuries affecting the squad, Leonard said it’s good to get more players experience.
When asked if she enjoyed the holiday tournament, Leonard was quick to respond.
“I thought it was a lot of fun. Going into this tournament, my team was like, ‘do these games count; how many games do we play?’ They didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “It was new to them, but I love playing on break because, sometimes, it’s such a long time off and we had the cobwebs the other day, so let’s work those out and get right back to the grind of January.”
Kanders was named to the tournament team alongside Labell, while Margot Bryce Morris was named Most Valuable Player.
Swampscott travels to Somerville Monday for a non-league matchup at 6 p.m.
