PEABODY — The Beverly High girls basketball team won the opening tip Monday night in Peabody.
That proved to be just about the only setback suffered by the host Tanners all night.
Thanks to an aggressive press defense, the hosts scored the game’s first six points and were never in serious danger of losing their lead, building upon it the rest of the way in a 62-45 victory over their Northeastern Conference rivals in a Division 1 state tournament preliminary round contest at Peabody High.
“It was all about it was compete level. We came out and were ready to go and win,” said senior captain Logan Lomasney, whose 19 points paced all scorers. She also grabbed eight rebounds and scored four of her team’s first six points in the opening 73 seconds.
“Beverly’s a great team with great guards and shooters, but tonight it was who wanted it more — and we wanted it more.”
The two teams had split during the regular season, with the Panthers earning a 1-point upset victory in their last meeting. Peabody made sure that wouldn’t happen again, turning a five-point lead (14-9) after one quarter into a 15-point halftime advantage (31-16). They went on to lead by as many as 22 points (49-27) in the third quarter.
The visiting Panthers, though, had zero games of postseason experience in basketball, something that Peabody’s older players had and took advantage of.
“I think we were more experienced and were able to dominate in first few minutes, which set the tone,” Tanners point guard and senior captain Abby Bettencourt said. “Even when our sophomores and freshmen subbed in, they came in with confidence because of the way we were playing.”
Now 14-7 on the season, the Tanners will now meet their namesake from Woburn Thursday (7 p.m.) for the fourth time in the last six postseasons, still looking for their first playoff win against them during that stretch.
Playing in her first game since a midseason injury, junior guard Ally Bettencourt came off the bench and played without fear, scoring 12 points while driving to the basket and fighting for rebounds. Her cousin Abby also had a fine game with eight points, a game-high nine assists, and six rebounds.
“It was as if (Ally) hadn’t missed a single game,” Abby Bettencourt. “She was so excited to come back, and we were ecstatic to have her back. It lifted up everyone’s confidence.”
Freshman point guard Julianna Stevenson had the hot hand for Beverly, as she has all season, winding up with 17 points and playing hard from the first whistle to the last. She hit seven free throws, three of those coming after making a layup.
Senior captain and guard Molly Potter (11) was the only player in double figures for the Panthers, who went just 4-of-18 from three-point territory.
‘We knew we were going to see their press and went over how to anticipate it, but unfortunately we didn’t execute the way we had hoped for. That’s on me,” Beverly (15-6) head coach Seth Stantial said. “Give credit to Peabody; they were so much more intense that we were to start off, and by the time we brought it in the second half, we had to play almost perfect ball to win.
“Shooting threes is our best offense; everyone knows it, I love it, and we have the kids who can shoot. But I think we let a lot of missing shots offensively affect us on the defensive end. I need to do a better job of getting us tougher.”
Peabody also got solid showings from, among others, sophomore center Sophia Coburn (6 points, 7 rebounds) and sophomore Lizzie Bettencourt (8 points, 3 assists).
“Losing to a team that you see all the time, from the same conference, where you know the girls, you’ve played against them in other sports … you lose to those girls and you remember it,” said Lomasney. “They’ll remember this one; it was our turn to win a game.”
While retaining the majority of its team, Beverly will say goodbye to its three seniors: captains Lauren Caley, Mia Bilotti, and Potter.
“So much attention was paid to our freshmen this year, and they deserved it. But I never wanted our seniors to think they weren’t a huge part of what we were doing,” said Stantial. “They started, were our leaders, played almost every minute of every game, and helped triple our win total from two years ago and more than double it from last season. They were a huge reason why we accomplished what we did this year.”
Peabody 62, Beverly 45
Division 1 preliminary round
at Peabody High
Beverly;9;7;22;7;45
Peabody;14;17;22;7;62
Beverly: Mia Bilotti 0-0-0, Lauren Caley 2-0-5, Molly Potter 4-2-11, Clara Kostro 1-0-2, Julianna Stevenson 5-7-17, Anna Michaud 1-0-2, Infinity Burns 1-0-2, Alexa Haberland 0-0-0, Lindsay Kaszynski 2-0-6. Totals 16-9-45.
Peabody: Logan Lomasney 8-0-19, Abby Bettencourt 4-0-8, Sophia Coburn 3-0-6, Aliana Ryan 1-0-3, Elizabeth Bettencourt 3-2-8, Madison Gath-Gimas 0-0-0. Avery Bettencourt 0-4-4, Maia Davis 0-0-0, Allyson Bettencourt 3-5-12, Olivia Gaynor 1-0-2. Totals 23-11-62.
Halftime: Peabody, 31-16.
Three-pointers: B, Kaszynski 2, Caley, Potter; P, Lomasney 3, Ryan, Allyson Bettencourt.
Records: B, 15-6; P, 14-7.