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Rockport drops season-opener to Georgetown

Wednesday, December, 12 By Rich Slate
Staff writer

Experience is a coveted thing in high school sports.

If you can couple that with talent then you have a deadly combination as the Rockport girls basketball team found out last night. They hosted Cape Ann League Small rival Georgetown, who boasted all five returning starters (although one is out with an injury) from a team that went 14-8 last season. The Royals led from start to finish in an impressive 60-24 win.

"We had some opening night jitters but they're an experienced team," said Rockport head coach Steve O'Connor. "They're going to compete in the CAL at a pretty high level so starting out against a team like that and having our young players (no seniors), I wasn't disappointed. We were still hustling at the end."

All 11 Royals (1-0) that saw the court, scored points. Georgetown was led by co-captains, junior forward Taryn O'Connell (13 points, six rebounds) and senior forward Julie Fehlmann (11 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals). Junior center Hayley Gisonno was the other double-digit scorer, as she recorded 10 points.

The Vikings (0-1) had trouble getting into any offensive sets early in the game as the Royals jumped out a 15-2 lead after one quarter. Rockport still couldn't get comfortable in the second quarter while Georgetown raced out to a 37-9 halftime advantage.

Rockport junior center and captain Tia Nelson heated up in the second half as she scored nine of her team-high 11 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Lyla Roth hit a 3-pointer and had six boards while sophomore forward Rebeccah Tibert notched four points and sophomore guard Hannah Evans added a 3-pointer.

A good sign for such a young team like the Vikings is that they never gave up when the game, for all intents and purposes, had long been decided. Rockport continued to play hard until the final whistle.

"We competed better at the end," noted O'Connor. "They played a zone in the second half (not a press) so that helped. The experience we gained from this game is invaluable. It's one game and we're going to have a few games like this."

The Vikings will have a few more days of practice before their next game. They'll travel to Wakefield on Saturday to take on Nazareth Academy in a non-conference matchup.