SALEM — After dropping their first six games of the new season, the Gloucester girls hoop team went into Monday’s NEC matchup in Salem desperately aiming to right the ship.
The Fishermen had their way with the Witches last winter in a game that saw Jordan Perdue-Deltorichio drop a career-high 41 points — and the senior standout would pick up right where she left off in this one.
The result was a convincing 57-21 victory for Gloucester, which led box to wire. Not only was it the squad’s first triumph of the year, but also the first for new head coach Brad Hill.
“As somebody who’s been watching these girls grow throughout the entire season, I couldn’t be more proud of what they did tonight,” said Hill.
Perdue-Deltorichio didn’t quite match her outlandish production from last year’s win, but she did carry the load offensively once again. She dropped a game-high 23 points in just three quarters of play, with the Fishermen going deep into their bench down the stretch thanks to a big lead. That allowed some well earned rest for Perdue-Deltorchio and some other key players, giving some other girls valuable varsity experience with the game already in hand.
Starting center Gabby Martell also had a nice game for Gloucester, contributing 10 points in a strong all around effort.
“We’re finally starting to pass as a team. We’re playing defense as a team, and that’s something that we’ve been pushing for all season long,” Hill said. “The first win is great … to see what the girls are accomplishing in a very short amount of time, even better.”
The Fishermen’s defense really was all over the place; they caused numerous turnovers and capitalized off second chance points, too.
Gloucester would go into the half up 30 points (38-8) and held Salem to just 12 points heading into the fourth.
Michaela Medina provided a nice spark off the bench for the Witches, finishing with eight points, including a 3-pointer to trim the deficit a bit in the fourth.
Jazlyn Martinez created opportunities for Salem as well, dishing out a couple of nice assists and finishing with nine points to cap it off. But Martinez and the Witches could not stop Perdue-Deltorichio and the determined Fishermen.
This could serve as a turning point for a Gloucester team with a lot of talent that’s just looking to put everything together. Coach Hill is confident in his team’s abilities, especially with their preparation.
“Each and every day, these girls are working their butts off,” Hill said. “They’re starting to play as a team and as one unit instead of individually.”
Once they made the extra passes and were swinging the ball consistently it made a massive difference from the opening tip.
“You saw today, many passes that were made were extra passes, and that allowed us to get better offense. So during practice time, they are absolutely learning the game of basketball and doing it as a team and not individually,” Hill said.
Gloucester will look to build off the elusive first victory when they travel to Ipswich Thursday for a 6 p.m. tipoff.