Lady Sachems fall short in Revere Tourney final

  Trailing by just one point entering the final quarter, the Saugus High School girls’ basketball team couldn’t keep pace with the Milton Wildcats and came out on the short end of a 42-28 score in the final of the inaugural Revere High School Holiday Tournament last Friday. The Sachems advanced to the title game by defeating the New Mission Titans, 59-50, in last Thursday’s opening round. Against Milton, Peyton DiBiasio led the offense with 21 points. Ashleen Escobar added four points in the defeat. Both DiBiasio and Escobar were named to the all-tournament team for their efforts.

  “[Milton] played great defense down the stretch and that led to some scoring opportunities for them,” Saugus Head Coach Mark Schruender said after the game. “And we had to play more aggressively than we wanted to toward the end of the game.”

  Schruender also cited the strong performances defensively from Ashleigh Moore, Juliana Powers, Taylor Deleidi and Madison Botta.

  The loss was Saugus’s second of the season. On Tuesday, the Sachems were edged out in a tough battle at Marblehead, 31-29, and sit at 3-3 overall on the season. Saugus has back-to-back home games against Arlington and Gloucester next Monday and Tuesday.

  In the Revere Tourney opening-round win over New Mission, nine different players made the scoring column for the Sachems. DiBiasio was once again the leading points-getter with 19, followed by Jessica Bremberg’s nine and Escobar’s eight. Saugus pulled out to a 35-20 advantage at halftime and was able to hold off a couple surges by the Titans in the second half.

  Amelia Pappagallo and Powers gave the Sachems a lift off the bench with four and five points, respectively. Botta did solid work on both sides of the ball by drawing offensive fouls and hauling down six offensive rebounds.

  “Given the back-and-forth nature of the game, we needed the contributions from everyone,” Schruender observed.