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Swampscott out-guns Peabody in NEC showdown

Friday, January, 25 By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer

In addition to cramming for school exams all week the Swampscott girls basketball team was also preparing for a huge test on the court.

The classroom grades may not have been handed out yet, but the Big Blue can breath a little easier knowing they passed their on-court exam last night with a 75-67 defeat of Peabody.

Although both teams play in different divisions of the Northeastern Conference, neither had lost a league game coming in.

"It was kind of neat because we were both undefeated and we had never played before," Swampscott coach Jack Hughes said. "I knew it was a little more than a regular season game. We had five days to get ready, which is highly unusual. So, yeah, it was a little special playing here for the first time with all the success they've had here."

The Tanners seemed to be a good matchup for Swampscott with all of their size and depth, but some hot first half shooting and the highly productive trio of Tara Nimkar, Allie Beaulieu, and Kara Gilberg were too much for Peabody to handle.

You name the defense | man-to-man, diamond-and-one, triangle-and-two, full and three-quarter court pressure | and Peabody tried it. While the Tanners were able to put up points quickly, they were unable to find the answer on the defensive end.

Focusing on the junior duo of Nimkar and Beaulieu did little to help Peabody's chances as Gilberg, a sophomore guard, made the most of her open shots.

Gilberg posted 12 first-half points with nary a miss, while Nimkar and Beaulieu combined for 20 as the Big Blue (12-1) opened a 41-33 lead.

"They had an answer for everything we did," Peabody coach Jane Heil said. "We worked on a lot of different things this week. Don't take anything away from (Tara) Nimkar and (Allie) Beaulieu | they're everything that made us try lots of different stuff. They are just awesome, but their off people stepped up to the plate tonight so no matter what we did they were prepared. They were better prepared for us than I think we were for them."

Fearing Peabody's size up front | the Tanners start a pair of 6-foot-1 players in Kristen Federico and Lindsey Consoles and a 5-10 forward in Janelle Rodriguez | Hughes elected to full-court press the Tanners all night, despite having a shorter bench than the hosts.

The plan worked perfectly as the Big Blue got Peabody into a running game in the first half, thus neutralizing its size advantage, while forcing a boatload of turnovers.

"We had four kids (Nimkar, Beaulieu, Gilberg, and Marissa Gambale) that played the entire game and we tried to pressure them for most of the game," Hughes said. "Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but man they played hard. We just felt we did not want to get into that little halfcourt game where Peabody could start dumping it down. Even if we gave up some easy shots we felt that if we could get some turnovers and steals that it was worth it."

Heil felt her team shouldn't have struggled with the pressure, but Peabody's inexperience in tight games may have played a role in their carelessness with the ball.

"We threw the ball away unnecessarily. I know they stepped up their defense, but people that should have been coming to the ball weren't," Heil said. "It was that kind of crucial game that forces you to make some mistakes."

Still, Peabody (10-2) managed to make it a two-point game (56-54) with one quarter to go.

Rodriguez (team-high 16 points) started a 9-0 run to end the third quarter with a layup. Reserve guard Alyssa Manoogian, who was a huge sparkplug for the Tanners all night, hit a turnaround jumper and finished an old-fashioned three-point play to highlight the spurt.

Nimkar was simply dominant when the game was on the line. She scored Swampscott's first 10 points of the fourth quarter and made three free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach.

Nimkar finished with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Gilberg added 18 and Beaulieu connected for 17. Jenna Mazzaferro (seven points) and Gambale (five points, eight assists) also connected on some big hoops for the Big Blue. Tawny Palmieri joined Rodriguez in double figures with 10, while Michelle Grifoni and Manoogian each had nine.

"The fact that we can put up 67 points and lose speaks to how great they are," Heil said. "The 41 points in the first half hurt us more than whatever it was they got in the second half. I thought that we almost dug ourselves too big a hole."