BEVERLY — A fast start, a huge advantage in height, and some smart ball movement added up to a solid road victory for the Marblehead girls basketball team Tuesday at the Henry Cabot Lodge Fieldhouse.
The Magicians saw host Beverly drain a three-pointer on its opening possession and responded by scoring the game’s next 16 points, paving the way to their 40-22 triumph over their Northeastern Conference rivals.
In a balanced scoring attack, senior Ramona Gillett scored 10 points, freshman Lucy McDonald added seven off the bench, juniors Greta Sachs and Tessa Andriano each added six, and classmate Samara Dosch finished with five as Marblehead controlled the boards and scored many of its points under the basket or on layups.
“That first quarter really set the tone for us,” said Marblehead coach Paul Moran, whose team has begun the season with back-to-back victories. “We moved the ball well, played pretty good defense, and are starting to come into our own a little bit.”
Up 10 after three quarters, Marblehead pulled away by going on an 8-0 run in the fourth, which included a drive-and-score by Gillett, an offensive putback by Sachs, a runner in the lane by Madison Forbes and a Gillett layup.
“The kids have really persevered early in the season through some things, and I give them a lot of credit for that,” said Moran.
To their credit, the Panthers (0-2) continued to fight and scrap after a difficult opening quarter. They cut the Magicians’ lead down to five (18-13) in the second quarter by hustling to the ball — typified by sophomore forward Infinity Burns coming up with four steals in that frame alone — and fighting under the boards for rebounds against their much bigger foes.
Shooting woes, however, ultimately cost the Orange-and-Black, who made just nine shots from the field. Three of those were from sophomore Clara Kostro, who hit a trio of three-pointers to lead her team in scoring.
“There were bits and pieces of things I saw that I certainly liked,” said Beverly head coach Seth Stantial, pointing to his team’s defensive work, pressure tactics, aggressive play, and how guards such as Kostro, captain Anna Michaud, and freshmen Gwen Jones, Kayla Everett and Mya Batista all battled well when switched onto the Magicians’ bigs.
“But there’s a lot more things we need to work on, things we need to definitely improve on,” he added. “We can’t blame it on lack of height; we simply have to be better moving forward.”
Moran said he expects to see the shots that the Panthers missed on Tuesday night to start falling the next time the two teams meet Jan. 24 in Marblehead.
“The Beverly kids always play hard and they’re so well coached,” said Moran. “Typically they’re not going to miss than many shots. Sometimes you get a little lucky that way, and we got lucky. But I also thought we played pretty good defense … and our kids play hard, too.”
Marblehead will not play again until the new year when it hosts Masconomet on Friday, Jan. 3. Beverly, meanwhile, returns to action this Friday when it hosts arch rival Salem at 6 p.m.
Marblehead 40, Beverly 24
at Henry Cabot Lodge Fieldhouse, Beverly
Marblehead: Olivia Goldwater 0-0-0, Samara Dosch 2-0-5, Tessa Andriano 3-0-6, Ramona Gillett 4-2-10, Madison Forbes 1-0-2, Lucy McDonald 3-0-7, Carys Moran 0-0-0, Sophie Bacon 0-1-1, Greta Sachs 3-0-6 Zoi Guzzini 1-0-3, Eliza Bland 0-0-0. Totals 17-3-40.
Beverly: Anna Michaud 0-0-0, Infinity Burns 2-2-6, Clara Kostro 3-0-9, Anna Fertonani 0-0-0, Kayla Everett 1-0-2, Jayden Starr 3-0-7, Alexa Haberland 0-0-0, Vivian Carter 0-0-0, Mya Batista 0-0-0, Gwendolyn Jones 0-0-0, Lindsay Kaszynski 0-0-0. Totals 9-2-24.
Halftime: Marblehead, 22-15.
Three-pointers: M, Dosch, McDonald, Guzzini; B, Kostro 3, Starr.
Records: M, 2-0; B, 0-2.
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN