RallyNorth.net

Swampscott wins showdown, title

Tuesday, December, 30 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

HAVERHILL — A rematch, and a more important showdown, is likely in the Division 3 North tournament in two months, but Swampscott didn’t hesitate to celebrate last night.

After the Big Blue (6-0) defeated Pentucket 46-43 in the championship game of the Greater Haverhill Coca-Cola Classic’s girls tournament, it helped soothe the sting of three straight defeats over the last two years to the defending tourney champion Sachems (5-1).

“We wanted this one so bad,” said Swampscott high scorer and tourney MVP Kara Gilberg. “It’s a dream, I’m so happy. They’re a great team and we’ve always wanted to beat them.”

Gilberg (game-high 18 points) and Marissa Gambale (career-high 12 points) foiled Pentucket’s  perfectly rational and beautifully executed defensive game-plan, which was to shut down senior high scorers Tara Nimkar And Allie Beaulieu.

Nimkar had been averaging 20 points a game and Beaulieu about 18, and Beaulieu was coming off a game in which she drilled a tourney-record six 3-pointers. But Nimkar was held to six points and Beaulieu — thanks to fine defense by Holly Jakobsons — went scoreless.

“I don’t think Allie has ever gone scoreless in four years,” said Swampscott coach Jack Hughes. “We knew that defensively they’d try to hold down Tara and Allie, so we told the other girls they’d have to step up. We told Marissa at halftime that she was going to have to shoot.”

Gilberg and Gambale were particularly tough in crunch time. With Pentucket ahead 18-11 in the second quarter, Gilberg’s 3-pointer sparked a 9-2 run to end the half with the score knotted up at 20-20.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Gilberg scored 11 points and Gambale as Swampscott rallied from a 32-25 deficit entering the final frame.

In the final minute of the game, during which Pentucket’s offense stagnated and was plagued by turnovers, Gilberg’e short jumper with 37 seconds left gave Swampscott its first lead since the second quarter, 44-42, and her two free throws with 9.5 seconds remaining all but clinched it.

“They deserved to win, and I told my team that,” said Pentucket coach John McNamara. “They outplayed us at the end and we made some bad decisions. Hats off to them.”

Pentucket certainly had some moments of excellent play. Led by Jakobsons’ three early jump shots for six of her season-high eight points, the Sachems grabbed an 11-4 first quarter lead. And Erin McNamara’s seven points and Kirsten Daamen’s five points in the third quarter helped push the lead back up to seven entering the fourth quarter.

McNamara (10 points) and Daamen (12 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks) were both named to the all-tournament team, but they were held to a combined four shots and two points in the fourth quarter, during which Pentucket committed seven turnovers.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but this is December, and we’ve lost before in December,” said McNamara. “We’ve come back before and played well at the end of the year and that’s what we’ll try to do again.”

Consolations: Pelham, Timberlane prevail

Pelham, led by Briana Szidat’s 25 points, held off spunky Haverhill 44-39 in the first consolation game of the day. For the winless Hillies, who enjoyed their highest point total of the year, Hannah Davis scored 12 points and Kayla Pollot added nine points.

Timberlane (2-2) followed with a 60-50 victory over Alvirne in a game in which the Owls drained 10 trifectas. All-tourney pick Tianna Parolisi had a pair of 3-pointers among her game-high 15 points and sophomore Meghan Short had a pair as well in her nine-point effort.

In the day’s other girls consolation game, Dyamond Gardner’s 27 points paced Cambridge Rindge & Latin to a 51-38 victory over Bishop Guertin.