DANVERS — Although she did a little bit of everything else, Danvers’ standout Angie Djoko was limited to just one basket in Tuesday’s Northeastern Conference clash with Gloucester.
Usually when your leading scorer is held well below her season average, that doesn’t bode well for the outcome of a game.
But on this particular night, Djoko’s teammates were more than ready to fill the void, with a number of other girls chipping in offensively to help the Falcons secure an impressive 46-40 victory on their home court.
Sophomore Annabel Boyd dropped 18, classmate Kyla Moroney had 12, and four other Falcons found the scoresheet to aid in the winning effort.
“Even when Angie, who’s our player, she has two points and we still win; that’s team sports right there,” said Danvers’ coach Dave Chisholm, his team improving to 8-4. “That’s every girls just stepping up.”
Despite not having her way offensively against some stingy Gloucester defense, particularly that of Olivia Madruga and Jordan Perdue-Deltorchio, Djoko chipped in with 12 big rebounds, three assists, five steals and two blocks. And it was those steals that truly stood out.
With Djoko leading the charge in that department, the Falcons forced nearly 20 turnovers in the first half alone, including 15 swipes, to take a 19-13 lead at the half. They held Gloucester to single digits in each of the first two frames, with Lila Flynn (5 steals), Kayda Brown (3 steals), Sienna Lynch (2 steals), Moroney (2 steals), and Kendall Murphy (2 steals) all getting their hands in the passing lane and diving for loose balls as well.
Gloucester couldn’t seem to shake the Falcons’ aggressive press early on, digging themselves in a hole it ultimately couldn’t climb out of.
“I think we were in too much of a rush getting into the half court offense,” admitted Gloucester head coach Tommy McDonald. “I think we were actually more poised when we were losing … We have to make some adjustments in our halfcourt offense and stay poised with the pressure. But credit to Danvers; they sped us up tonight and messed up our flow a bit.”
Gloucester would battle back, using an explosive third quarter to climb within four (31-27) heading for home. That came after Danvers had jumped out to its biggest lead of the night (12), and nearly let their NEC foes regain the lead late in the frame.
Olivia Madruga did a nice job getting to the basket and converting, scoring eight of her 12 points after the break. Perdue-Deltorchio was her usual dominant self, driving to the rack and either finishing strong or getting to the foul line and knocking down her freebies at an efficient rate. She finished with another monster double-double (25 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block) in the losing effort.
“Deltorchio’s going to get hers,” said Chisholm. “There’s nothing you can do. You can hope she gets in foul trouble early but she’s a great player and one of the few who physically matches up with Angie.”
Four points was as close as Gloucester would get down the stretch, as Danvers came out firing in the fourth to regain the lead. Boyd knocked down two huge 3-pointers in the decisive stanza that were complete backbreakers for the Fishermen, who had remained within striking distance until the final two minutes.
Between those clutch outside shots and Danvers’ ability to get downhill and attack the paint with regularity throughout the evening, it was simply a recipe to success.
“Annabel was huge tonight with 18, and those two huge threes in the fourth quarter,” said Chisholm. “We just had the girls change their mentality of ‘drive to the basket, play more aggressive’, and it showed tonight. We looked to score instead of looking for that perfect shot or perfect pass. It was attack the gaps and move the ball.”
Brown added seven points and six boards in the win for Danvers, while Flynn was tremendous defensively off the bench all night.
On the other end, Taiya Mano was the lone other Fishermen to find the scoresheet, hitting a trio of free throws to get on the board. Gabby Martell came up with six big blocks as the last line of defense in the middle, and snagged eight boards to boot.
But Gloucester ultimately shot itself in the foot with the costly turnovers and were never quite able to get into a rhythm offensively. Now its on to Saugus on Friday (6 p.m.) as the Fishermen look to get back to .500 on the year.
“Beginning of the third quarter we just were beating ourselves, and we just have to learn from this and we’re on to Saugus,” said McDonald. “
Danvers 46, Gloucester 40
at Danvers High School
Gloucester (5-6) 7 6 14 13 40
Danvers (8-4) 11 8 12 15 46
Individual statistics
Gloucester — Jordan Perdue-Deltorchio 8-9-25, Olivia Madruga 4-4-12, Taiya Mano 0-3-3; Natasha Depaula 0-0-0, Gabby Martell 0-0-0, Adeline Amero 0-0-0, Jocelyn Maddalena 0-0-0. Totals: 12-16-40.
Danvers — Sienna Lynch 0-2-2, Kayda Brown 3-0-7, Kyla Moroney 5-2-12, Madeline Shairs 1-0-3, Annabel Boyd 7-2-18, Kendall Murphy 1-0-2, Angie Djoko 1-0-2, Lila Flynn 0-0-0. Totals: 18-6-46.
Halftime: 20-13, Danvers
3-Pointers: D — Boyd 2, Shairs, Brown; G — None.
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.