Quaboag can't stand Big Blue's pressure
WORCESTER - Swampscott's goal at the beginning of the season was to win the first state title in the team's history. The Big Blue accomplished that feat yesterday with a 72-38 shellacking of previously undefeated Quaboag at the DCU Center.
"This was the goal," said Swampscott coach Jack Hughes. "The girls said to me that winning at the Garden was not good enough and that they wanted to be state champs, and now they've done it."
Quaboag took a 4-0 lead, but Allie Beaulieu's 3-pointer and Tara Nimkar's layup put Swampscott ahead - and it never looked back.
The Big Blue (23-2) were up by 15 by halftime and doubled that lead to 30 by the start of the final quarter behind Beaulieu (27 points), Nimkar (22), and Kara Gilberg (16), who scored all but 7 of Swampscott's points.
"We tried to cover the hot hands," said Quaboag coach John Vayda. "We just couldn't match up man to man so we tried some tweaks to our zone."
The game was tight after one quarter, but Swampscott took control in the second, outscoring the Cougars, 24-12.
The Big Blue put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring Quaboag, 21-6.
The large lead made the fourth quarter feel more like a celebration than a game. Blue-clad fans were on their feet for most of the second half. Seniors Beaulieu and Nimkar, each of whom finished her career with more than 1,000 points, received huge ovations.
It wasn't just a great offensive performance that won the day for the Big Blue. Their defensive pressure, especially on the press, prevented Quaboag from getting back into the game.
Swampscott finished with 24 steals, led by senior guard Marissa Gambale's seven.
"From a pressure standpoint, we had never seen anything like it," said Vayda. "They had so much intensity on defense, we had teams press us here and there, but not all game like that."
Quaboag (25-1) tried to prepare for the intensity by focusing on it in practice. The Cougars brought in boys' teams to help them work against the press, but yesterday they couldn't move the ball into the offensive end with any success.
Quaboag was led by Meaghan O'Keefe's 16 points and Samantha McCann's 13, most of which came on individual efforts. The Cougars were under so much pressure they rarely got into a set offense.
