~ Saugus High School Sachems Sports Roundup ~

Saugus girls basketball team eyes third straight NEC Lynch title

By Dom Nicastro

The Saugus High School girls basketball team is closing in on another milestone as it enters the final stretch of the regular season. Heading into this week, the Sachems were 11-5 overall and 8-3 in the Northeastern Conference (NEC). They already clinched at least a share of the NEC Lynch Division title. The Sachems put themselves in a position to clinch their third straight title with a win against Swampscott on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Head Coach Joe Lowe has kept the focus on execution and playing hard, rather than the standings. “I just haven’t wanted that to be my message,” he said. “I want them to show up, work hard, do your thing,” Lowe said.

Saugus is coming off a 72-59 win over 10-win, Division 2 Danvers, where Peyton DiBiasio had a career-high 35 points and Ella Castle recorded a season-high 18 points. Lowe credited Castle’s work ethic on both ends of the floor.

“Ella’s actually been playing unreal defense,” Lowe said. “She’s been burying threes, but she’s been playing really good defense, catching steals and getting layups. She’s really stepped up in that her and Taylor [Deleidi] and [Madison] Botta are getting really good traps, and she’s capitalized on finishing layups, which she wasn’t really doing early on. She’s worked really hard the last few weeks.”

DiBiasio’s shooting was electric against Danvers, as she shot 4-for-8 from 3-point range and 15-for-18 from the free-throw line. “She’s been shooting the ball ridiculous,” Lowe said.

Lowe noted that Danvers struggled to contain her without fouling. “There was 13 fouls called in the third quarter,” Lowe said. “They couldn’t guard her. They were fouling her in the full court, and she made them pay.”

The Sachems’ high-pressure defense has been a signature all season, but Lowe admitted that some recent adjustments had backfired. “It’s my fault,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get the backside of our press to be a little more aggressive, and it’s been too aggressive.”

The defensive strategy against Danvers was to allow their top scorer to get points while locking down the rest of the team. “The girl, Angie [Djoko], she actually scored 28 points,” Lowe said. “She’s for real. She’s a big, strong kid. We actually let her score… It was just like, similar to what we’ve been doing; we pick one kid on the other team, and we just say that person can score 30; no one else can beat us.”

With four games left, Saugus is looking to improve its playoff seeding and make a deep run in the tournament. “The way it stands now, I think we’d have a preliminary game,” Lowe said. “But I think if we can get three out of four down the stretch, which is certainly possible for us, I think we can climb up a couple of spots. I don’t mind hosting a home play-in game and then going on the road. The play-in games are for getting a game of jitters under your belt, that tournament-like atmosphere, that big crowd.”

Saugus boys fall to Danvers

The Saugus High School boys basketball team fell to Danvers, 89-56. The Sachems dropped to 5-10. Jordan Rodriguez led the way with 22 points, followed by Huey Josama (11), Ryan Shea (eight), Ryan Dupuy (eight) and Danny Zeitz (seven).