Saugus girls awarded 20th seed in Div. 2 tourney

  The Saugus High School girls’ basketball team has known it would be bound for the playoffs for a couple of weeks now. The Sachems played at Bishop Stang out of North Dartmouth on Thursday (after press deadline) in the opening round of the Div. 3 tournament.

  The 12-8 Sachems are the No. 20 seed while Bishop Stang, despite its 10-10 record, is the 13th seed. Strength of schedule and other factors are seemingly playing a larger role than actual season records in the state rankings.

  For Head Coach Mark Schruender and his Saugus squad, the season turned around nicely after a three-week layoff due to the COVID-19 surge in late December. At the time of the COVID surge, the Sachems were 1-3. Upon returning to action in January, Saugus went 11-5 the rest of the season. A few close losses (games that could have been victories), prevented the Sachems from perhaps opening the playoffs at home.