Marblehead’s girls basketball team is enjoying a strong start to the season through 12 games. The Magicians are 7-5 and have shown steady progress under head coach Paul Moran.
“Everything is going really well. We’ve got a good combination of veteran leadership and we’re mixing in the young kids, too,” Moran said.
One highlight came during a win against longtime rival Swampscott, a 48-36 home victory that Moran pointed to as the team’s most impressive performance to date.
“Beating Saugus was a big win, but the best win was Swampscott. That was a good win for us,” he said. “Swampscott is a really good team. They’ve got really good players, so that was a big win for us.”
The Swampscott victory snapped a two-game skid for Marblehead, which suffered losses against Masconomet and Notre Dame Academy (Hingham). According to Moran, the win over the Big Blue reinforced the belief that his team can compete with top programs.
“When you beat a team like Swampscott — being a rival game — it just shows we can compete with anyone on any given night,” Moran said. “In all of our losses, in some of those games, we got blown out in the end, but against Danvers, it was a one- or two-point game midway through the third quarter. Masco, it was the same thing. We just need to find ways to finish down the end. We’re working on it and we’re getting better every single day. It’s a long season and we have a lot of games left.”
Moran credited much of the team’s success to the senior class, which has provided leadership both on and off the court.
“The seniors have done a really good job getting the kids ready every day. Two of our seniors — Tessa Andriano and Greta Sachs — are double-double girls every night. They work very hard and do a great job,” Moran said. “Samara (Dosch) has been out with a knee injury and was an All-Star last year. It’s been a devastating loss for us, but she’s been at our practices and games. Quinn Harris is like our team manager. She’s another senior who has been off the charts. Every day, she’s at practice and she’s been with us for four years. We also have Nora Mahan and Hailey Schmitt, who are two great athletes who are three-sport athletes. We’ve got a good group of seniors.”
Looking ahead to the second half of the season, Moran hopes his team can string together wins by improving down the stretch.
“I think what we need to improve on — from the team to the coaches to everyone involved — it’s just finishing out games,” he said. “Everyone’s got to do a little better job. If everyone does their job, hopefully, we’ll get more wins than losses. We have a tough stretch coming up, but this team works incredibly hard. That’s all I can expect as a coach.”
