MARBLEHEAD — Angie Djoko and Annabel Boyd, two of the standouts for the Danvers High girls basketball team, both smiled when they heard the question. And while Djoko answered it, you get the sense Boyd could’ve said the exact same thing.
“I honestly feel like we’re a second half team. We just seem to know how to push on the gas pedal and make it work,” said Djoko, the senior captain whose 20 points and 14 rebounds helped push the Falcons past host Marblehead, 47-29 Tuesday night.
Taking their first lead of the night just three seconds before halftime, the Falcons then expanded upon their 2-point halftime advantage and outscored the Magicians, 29-13, over the final two quarters. In doing so, the Northeastern Conference leaders improved to 9-1 at the midpoint of the regular season.
Djoko had 11 of her 20 points in the second half, while Boyd scored seven straight points in the third quarter before finishing with 12 total. She went on her run via a 3-ball, a long jumper and a one-handed runner to give DHS an eight-point advantage that it would never relinquish.
“Shooter’s shoot. You just have to keep going and they’ll fall eventually,” the 17-year-old Boyd said, after scoring just one basket in the first half.
“We kept that momentum going from the end of the first half, which was key,” the junior guard, who also had four assists and four steals, added. “We made the adjustments we needed, worked well together and did what we do best.”
Lockdown defenders Lila Flynn and Sienna Lynch also helped to prevent Marblehead (now 6-4) from getting its offensive untracked after halftime.
Veteran head coach Paul Moran put the blame squarely on himself following the Magicians’ setback.
“It was a very poor job by me tonight. My second half adjustments were terrible,” said Moran. “The kids played great, they always do, but I didn’t do my job as their head coach and that’s on me.
“We didn’t do a good enough job on Angie, and that’s on me. We should have doubled her defensively in the second half, but I didn’t. We had the pace of the game in the first half but lost it in the second, and again that’s on me.”
Senior center Greta Sachs had 12 points for Marblehead, all of those scored underneath, while fellow senior big Tessa Andriano finished with 11 points, including a pair of threes in the first quarter.
“The biggest thing for us was being able to adjust,” said the Trinity College-bound Djoko, clearly among the favorites for NEC Player of the Year this season. “We adjusted to their press, adjusted on ball movement, our defensive switched and made the stops to get Andriano, their great shooter, from making shots after those two early threes … our adjustments were great.”
“Breaking their press,” added Boyd, “gave us multiple chances to score in the second half, and we did.”
Kayda Brown added seven rebounds for Danvers, which got six points and four steals from Lynch in addition to six more points, four boards and three thefts from Flynn. Kendal Murphy contributed three points and five steals.
Moran, who also praised the work of Ainsley McDonald (4 points), Cerys Moran, Nora Mahan and other Magicians, stressed that he needs to make his own adjustments sooner during games.
“I put the girls in a position not to succeed tonight,” he said. “A coach’s job is to put them in a position to succeed, and I didn’t do that.”
Danvers 47, Marblehead 29
at Marblehead High Fieldhouse
Danvers: Sienna Lynch 2-2-6, Kayda Brown 0-0-0, Annabel Boyd 5-0-12, Kendal Murphy 1-1-3, Anjie Djoko 9-2-20, Lila Flynn 3-0-6, Stellar Shairs 0-0-0, Sienna Goldberg 0-0-0, Kyla Moroney 0-0-0. Totals 20-5-47.
Marblehead: Hailey Schmitt 0-0-0, Nora Mahan 1-0-2, Tessa Andriano 3-3-11, Greta Sachs 6-0-12, Ainsley McDonald 2-0-4, Carys Moran 0-0-0, Eleanor Morgan 0-0-0, Lucy McDonald 0-0-0. Totals 12-3-29. Halftime: Danvers, 18-16.
Three-pointers: D, Boyd; M, Andriano 2.
Records: D, 9-1; M, 6-4.
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN