Page 12 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, FEbrUAry 21, 2025 Saugus High School Sachems Girls Basketball Host Senior Night Taylor Deleidi sets up a shot. Ella Castle scored 9-three pointers for a career high of 27 points against Dracut. Madison Botta, #2, with parents, Matt and Susan Botta, brother, Mason and Grandparents Paul and Gloria. Ella Castle with her parents on Senior Night. Taylor Deleidi, #1, and teammate/sister Sydney, #21, flanked by parents Jamie and Erin Deleidi. Madison Botta dribbles down court. Saugus finishes regular season with huge upset win over Chelmsford By Dom Nicastro The Sachems beat Division 2 L ook out, Massachusetts Division 3 girls basketball. Saugus will be in the mix. And it will be ready for any challenge. It’s not some corny rallying cry. The Sachems should be a force to be reckoned with evidenced by results from its final week of regular-season basketball. Dracut (5-15), 61-59, and Division 1 Chelmsford (16-4), 4644. Each team competes in the super competitive Merrimack Valley Conference. Meanwhile, the Division 3 Sachems, the Northeastern Conference champions, came up super clutch down the stretch in their two wins and finished 13-7 in the regular season. In Division 3 rankings, they are ranked No. 24 and await their postseason fate this coming weekend. Against Chelmsford, a team that beat Saugus, 48-40, in the season-opener, Peyton DiBiasio had 25 points to lead Saugus to the upset win over the hosts. She calmly sank two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to lift Saugus to the victory. The Sachems had to mount a comeback from eight points down in the final quarter. Angelina Dow, Madison Botta and Shay Sewell came up with a great defensive effort. Taylor Deleidi had a clutch 3-pointer in the fourth. Saugus got great leadership from Ella Castle and DiBiasio. Deleidi had nine points, and Shawn Sewell added five, while Botta, Castle and Shay Sewell chipped in with two. Botta, coming off an historic girls soccer season, has been a defensive force the whole season for Saugus. “I think we went into the game like every other game and knew we had to play hard,” Botta said. “We played Chelmsford the first game HUGE UPSET WIN | SEE PAGE 13
13 Publizr Home