Sometimes a simple halftime adjustment can be the difference between a win and a loss.
For the Gloucester girls hoop team, which held a narrow two-point advantage after two quarters against visiting Beverly on Friday night, shutting down the Panthers’ 3-point attack was that necessary adjustment.
Beverly knocked down five shots from distance in the first two frames, but Gloucester put the clamps down from there, limiting the visitors to just one more triple the remainder of the night to walk away with a 49-35 win.
“They’re a deadly 3-point shooting team; they made nine against Malden on Tuesday, and we saw that that was their main offense,” said Gloucester coach Tommy McDonald, his team improving to 4-5 on the year. “They have some very good outside shooting players, they’ll shoot them from NBA range and they’ll get the long rebounds. So we eliminated those and we knew we were going to give up some layups, but I thought we played the percentages, the lesser of two evils, and it worked out in our favor.”
All told, Gloucester held Beverly to just 11 total points in the second half (seven in the third and four in the fourth) after going into the break with a 26-24 lead.
It was clear from the start of the third quarter that the Fishermen were putting more of an emphasis on guarding the perimeter and cutting down on Beverly’s clean looks from deep. After forcing a few misses, the momentum started to shift in the hosts’ favor — and even when the Panthers did get an open look, they were no longer falling.
“You always want to give credit to the other team, and I thought they played well,” said Beverly coach Seth Stantial, his team now 2-5. “But I think we missed some open shots and the confidence dropped a little bit. I think some kids started forcing it and it kind of snowballed on us. We’ve been working on not letting one mistake lead to another and we kind of let that happen tonight.”
Stellar defense or not, Gloucester got stops and was able to rebound the basketball effectively on the defensive end, which in turn, spearheaded their offense.
Both Jordan Perdue-Deltorchio — who notched a monster double-double with 17 points, 19 rebounds, 3 steals and a block — and Gabby Martell (12 rebounds, 5 blocks) did a great job securing the ball off the glass, getting it to a ball handler and past midcourt cleanly, and executing in their halfcourt sets. Perdue-Deltorchio was once again effective at getting to the rim and finishing in traffic; she scored 10 of her points in the second half and all of her field goals came in the paint.
The Fishermen did hit a little bit of a lull offensively midway through the second half, but sophomore Liv Madruga took matters into her own hands with some great dribble drives of her own. She finished with 16 big points to go with four rebounds and an assist.
“This is the best rebounding team I’ve had since I’ve been here,” said McDonald. “They’ve all bought in to gang rebounding and it’s so helpful, especially with all those 3-pointers which are long rebounds. So I thought we did a good job of that tonight.
“And (Madruga) really stepped up tonight,” added the coach. “I alternate her and Taiya (Mano) bringing the ball up and those two did a good job working together where they kind of took turns attacking. Olivia made some great moves driving left and finishing when we needed it.”
Mano, the lone senior on Gloucester’s roster, chipped in nicely as well with 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals and a pair of blocks. She knocked down one of the Panthers’ two triples (Madruga had the other), and was key defensively on the perimeter.
For Beverly, sophomore Infinity Burns did her best to challenge Gloucester’s monster effort on the glass by mixing it up in the paint herself. She finished with a team-high 15 rebounds to go with a team-high nine points.
“She works her tail off. She almost got a triple double the other game, just missed it with points,” said Stantial. “So she’s very good at basketball without being real skilled with the basketball which is a big credit to her.”
Gloucester would outscore Beverly by three points in the third to take a 36-31 lead heading for home. Madruga then went to work, Mano knocked down a key triple, and Perdue-Deltorchio helped put the finishing touches on a 13-4 run to end the game with a double-digit triumph for her team.
Now with a chance to climb back to the .500 mark, Gloucester will look to ride the momentum into its next game at Swampscott next Friday.
“We had a good week of practice and this was a good one for us. Now we’re on to Swampscott and we’ll have a few extra practices to prepare for them,” said McDonald. “They beat us at our home court so we’ll try to beat them at theirs.”
Gloucester 49, Beverly 35
at Gloucester High School
Beverly (2-5);12;12;7;4;35
Gloucester (4-5);11;15;10;13;49
Individual Statistics
Beverly — Anna Michaud 1-1-3, Infinity Burns 3-3-9, Vivian Carter 2-1-7, Clara Kostro 1-0-3, Anna Fertonani 3-0-7, Gwendolyn Jones 1-0-3, Lindsay Kaszynski 1-0-3. Totals: 12-5-35
Gloucester — Olivia Madruga 6-3-16, Taiya Mano 5-2-13, Natasha Depaula 1-0-2, Jordan Perdue-Deltorchio 8-1-17, Gabby Martell 0-1-1. Totals: 20-7-49.
Halftime: 26-24, Gloucester
3-Pointers: B, Carter 2, Kostro, Fertonani, Jones, Kaszynski; G, Mano, Madruga.