BYFIELD — A lot is clicking right now for the Triton girls basketball team.
If the situation calls for the Vikings to get in a shootout, well, Kendall Liebert and her 20.4 points per game is one of the best scorers in the CAL. But if the Vikings find themselves in a physical, every-possession-matters sort of game — like they were in Wednesday night againt visiting Gloucester — they’re proving that they can win those, too.
And truth be told, the program has been doing a lot of winning lately.
In a physical, rock-fight of a game Wednesday evening, Triton was able to keep its composure and come away with its fourth straight win. Liebert nearly hit her average with 16 points, and Margaret Welch poured in a season-high 10 to lift the Vikings to a 46-24 victory over the Fishermen.
“I was so happy that we kept our composure even with all of the other stuff going on,” said Triton coach Gregg Dollas. “That was a lot of stuff that happened, that was a rock-fighty type of game. So it was nice to keep everyone composed, and it was nice that when Kendall was out, we were scoring. I’m very happy with the girls.”
Truly, the Vikings (6-3) have been a great story so far.
With Wednesday’s victory, they’ve already doubled their win total from a season ago. Many of the same faces who were on last year’s team are back, but they’re collective improvement during the offseason has been drastic. and off a 3-win campaign from a season ago, the Vikings are currently ranked No. 20 in the latest MIAA Division 3 power poll.
That’s not only safely in the field, but almost at a home playoff game.
“I feel like every game is a coin toss,” said Dollas. “You just don’t know what you’re going to get, or who’s going to get hot in that game. But this is great, we’re 6-3 right now. We got a tough schedule coming up, though. So we just had a good run right there, but now we go into that CAL large.”
True, the schedule is about to ramp up.
After last night, Triton has now ripped off four straight wins over Ipswich, Essex Tech, Hamilton-Wenham and Gloucester. Up next is a Lynnfield team out of the Kinney Division on Friday, followed by Manchester-Essex and North Reading next week. So that’ll be a nice little litmus test to see where the Vikings are at.
But, in a hard-nosed game, they continued to look good Wednesday night.
A 5-5 game after the first quarter, Liebert and Welch helped Triton open up a 16-9 lead at halftime. The defense was pretty stout all night, as Gloucester only made five field goals — no 3s — and scored 14 of its points at the free throw line.
To open the second half, though, the Vikings pulled away.
Lia Hatheway swished a pair of 3s, and a bucket from Lily D’Andrea followed by Bella Basile free throws opened the lead to double digits at 26-15 heading into the fourth. The Fishermen put on a press over the final eight minutes to try and force turnovers, but senior Viking point guard, and captain, Reese Renda routinely broke it, and was a calming presence that got the team into its offensive sets.
“Reese is the engine right now,” said Dollas. “She drives us in a lot of different ways, with her positive energy and the way that she leads by example. She’s awesome. She’s easy to coach, and she’s a point guard. Her controlling the ball, her dump-off passes, are awesome.”
Behind Liebert and Welch was Hatheway with 8 points, and D’Andrea with 6.
Triton 46, Gloucester 24
Gloucester (24): Madrugs 0-2-2, Mano 1-1-3, Carollo 1-2-4, Goulart 0-0-0, Del Torchio 1-7-9, Staffer 1-2-4, Cinelli 1-0-2, Martell 0-0-0. Totals 5-14-24
Triton (46): Renda 0-3-3, D’Andrea 2-2-6, Lesinski 0-0-0, Jones 0-0-0, McDonald 0-0-0, Basile 0-2-2, Liebert 6-3-16, Welch 5-0-10, Hatheway 2-2-8, Johnson 0-0-0. Totals 15-12-46
3-pointers: T — Hatheway 2, Liebert
Gloucester: 5 4 6 9 — 24
Triton (6-3): 5 11 10 20 — 46