BEVERLY — After a lengthy layoff from live action, the Gloucester girls hoop team returned to the court Tuesday night in Beverly in search of their third straight win.
While the Fishermen admittedly had to shake off some rust of the gate, it all come together down the stretch in the NEC road tilt.
Trailing by six heading into the final quarter, Gloucester used some hard drives to the basket to earn numerous trips to the free throw line in crunch time. Both Olivia Madruga and Jordan Perdue-Deltorchio knocked them down at an extremely efficient rate, and it was those timely freebies that proved to be the difference in a 61-58 GHS triumph.
“We work so hard on that. We do between 50 and 100 free throws at practice so that we’re ready for these types of situations,” said first-year Gloucester head coach Brad Hill. “Olivia (Madruga) was 10-for-12 tonight and it was just unbelievable that she was just ice on the foul line. That was huge for us.”
Gloucester finished the evening 14-for-18 from the charity stripe and Madruga (14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists) was simply nails on those attempts in the second half. Her two makes with 14 seconds to play gave Gloucester — which trailed for much of the contest — a three-point advantage. Beverly got a decent look from three in an attempt to force overtime, but it was off the mark.
“At halftime things got a little heated in the locker room and they needed to show that they can stand up and play good basketball against a good team,” added Hill, whose team trailed by just two, 31-29, at recess. “In the second half they did just that.”
Beverly had things rolling early in this one, opening up on a 10-0 run before Gloucester closed the gap to 16-11 after eight minutes.
Natasha Depaula provided a huge spark to get the Fishermen’s offense going, drilling three of her game-high six triples before the break. She missed just one shot from beyond the arc on the night, with that coming on her final attempt of the evening after starting 6-for-6.
Firing up a high-arching moon ball with a confident release, Depaula’s shooting was a welcome sight for coach Hill and his group. The junior guard had missed some time due to injury in the early stages of the year, but is now back at full strength providing quality minutes on both sides of the floor.
“She’s in there for defense and to be able to get the offense that we got out of her tonight was just the frosting on the cake,” said Hill. Depaula closed out well on the Beverly shooter on the final defensive stand for Gloucester, too.
“That was the best game she’s played all year.”
For much of the night, Beverly clung to a narrow advantage thanks to some strong all around play from Clara Kostro (team-high 18 points, 4 rebounds, 5 steals), Kayla Everett (14 points, 3 rebounds) and Marissa Hutton (14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, steals). The Panthers had good ball control and knocked down seven threes to somewhat combat Depaula’s red-hot night, but they managed to get to the line just four times (knocking down three of them) which proved to be a monumental difference in the end.
For Gloucester, Perdue-Deltorchio, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, once again turned in a sound performance to lead her team in both categories. She finished with a game-high 20 points — all of which came on paint touches or free throws — to go with nine rebounds and six assists.
Perdue-Deltorchio’s driving layup through traffic, off a feed from Madruga, gave Gloucester the lead at 59-58 with about 40 seconds to play and they never gave up that advantage.
“We hadn’t played since last Thursday so the practices were starting to get a little stale. And when you see real time basketball again … yes, we started out slow,” admitted Hill. “But this team has heart, and it showed tonight.”
Gloucester has now won three in a row after an 0-6 start. The Fishermen are healthy and whole and have a great chance to make a real push down the regular season stretch as they vie for an ever-elusive Division 3 postseason berth.
Junioe Jocelyn Maddalena added four points and some strong defensive minutes in the win, while freshman Emma Richardson hit a pair of jumpers, one of which came from distance, and snagged six rebounds to boot.
Gloucester 61, Beverly 58
at Henry Cabot Lodge Fieldhouse, Beverly High
Gloucester (3-6) 11 18 10 22 61
Beverly (1-8) 16 15 14 13 58
Individual statistics
Gloucester — Jordan Perdue-Deltorchio 7-6-20, Natasha Depaula 6-0-18, Olivia Madruga 2-10-14, Emma Richardson 2-0-5, Jocelyn Maddalena 2-0-4, Gabby Martell 0-0-0, Chloe Kousoulos 0-0-0. Totals: 19-16-61.
Beverly — Clara Kostro 7-0-18, Kayla Everett 5-3-14, Marissa Hutton 6-0-14, Riley MacDonald 2-0-4, Infinity Burns 2-0-4, Gwen Jones 1-0-2, Delphine Kwaa 1-0-2, Mya Batista 0-0-0, Alexa Haberland 0-0-0. Totals: 23-3-58.
Halftime: 31-29, Beverly
3-Pointers: G, Depaula 6, Maddalena; B, Kostro 4, Hutton 2, Everett.
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.