Masconomet overwhelms Gloucester 62-23

(Boxford MA) “We played really hard at the beginning to put ourselves in a good spot,” explained Masco senior Krystal Zepaj afterwards.

The Lady Chieftains exploded in the second quarter and went on from there to a, 62-23, win over Gloucester in Northeastern Conference action on Thursday night.

The Fishermen (0-11) have struggled to be competitive so far. The inability to make shots hurt them badly tonight. They took plenty of shots but didn’t make enough to keep things competitive after the first quarter.

Masco, on the other hand, worked their way into plenty of open looks and cashed in regularly.

“We got some good ball movement as well as movement off the ball which we have been harping on,” said Masco coach Shannon Kirwan post-game.

The Lady Chieftains clicked seven times from long range led by senior Krystal Zepaj (13 points) who did it three times.

“My teammates set me up for those open looks,” said Krystal.

Lexi Carollo and Abby Stauffer led Gloucester with eight points each.

Krystal’s second three-point basket, assisted by Taylor Bovardi, put Masco in front to stay, 9-6, halfway through the first quarter.

That lead would grow to 23-8 two minutes into the 2^nd quarter and 34-11 four minutes later. The halftime score was 38-15.

The Lady Chieftains did pull off the full-court pressure but were excellent in their half-court defense.

“We definitely increased our defensive intensity,” said Coach Kirwan.

Masco jumped into passing lanes and had nineteen steals.

The Fishermen gave up thirty-five points off of turnovers.

Junior Taylor Bovardi contributed eleven points while senior Sarah Green and sophomore Remmi Cote added nine points for Masco.

The Lady Chieftains are now at 7-4. “We’re doing pretty well,” said Krystal. “A lot of the games have been against lower-caliber teams. We need to win those, and work hard to get wins against the better teams.”

Krystal hasn’t decided on college yet. “Suffolk and Nichols have interest in me for basketball,” she said. “If I don’t play basketball, I’m looking at BC, BU, and Northeastern. I want to study finance.”