THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, MArCH 1, 2024 Page 11 Saugus ends postseason drought with convincing victory over North High By Dom Nicastro T hey won Northeastern Conference titles, had 16-win seasons and several all-stars. However, nagging the Saugus High School girls basketball program during its recent string of success had been the goose egg in the postseason. Not anymore. The Sachems broke the postseason hex. And convincingly. Saugus beat North High of Worcester, 58-12, in the preliminary round of the Division 3 state girls basketball tournament at Saugus High School on Tuesday night, Feb. 27. Saugus (14-7), the No. 25 seed in the 40-team, single-elimination tourney, moves on to face No. 8 Dover-Sherborn (13-7) on Thursday night, Feb. 29, at Dover-Sherborn High School. “It’s great,” said Saugus sophomore Peyton DiBiasio, who led all scorers with 14 points, including nine in the second quarter in which the Sachems outscored North, 23-6, and went into the break leading, 30-8. “You know, we’ve been struggling for the last two years. We’ve never been able to get that win. But it’s always been a high compete level.And I think we upped our game this year, and we prepared ourselves for moments like this.” Ice-cold in the first quarter (1-for-13 from the field), Saugus in the next quarter was simply red-hot like the color in its uniform. The Sachems shot 9-for-17 in the second quarter, including 5-for-8 from 3-point land. Ella Castle was CLIFTONDALE | SEE PAGE 11 dents as well. For the most part, students behaved and listened to the teacher but if there was a problem with a student, which was rare, the parents would side with the teacher and exact their own discipline at home. During my years in college, we were taught that the eyes of a child were not developed fully enough to learn how to read until they reached the age of seven. We did not know about autism at that time, and I do not recall anyone getting sick over peanut butter. Few children had Saugus’ Ashleigh Moore tossed up a 3 as Madi Femino (4) positions for rebound. the Downtown Queen with 2 in the quarter and 8 of her overall 11 points. DiBiasio, Taylor Deleidi (10 points) and Ashleigh Moore (3 points, 7 rebounds) also had 3-pointers as Saugus had a game-turning 16-0 run over the first and second quarters. The Sachems’ defense in the opening 16 minutes forced 27 turnovers from last-seeded North High (44 in the game). The Polar Bears had 5 field goals in the entire game, including only 1 in the second half – Susy Daniels’ bucket that made it 52-12 with 3:52 left in the game. North went 3-for-11 in the first half and 1-for-20 in the second half under ferocious pressure in the halfcourt by the Sachems. Saugus coach Joe Lowe, in his first year as head coach after serving as an assistant last year, said he was concerned about North point guard Jakayla Edmonds after watching her on film. She didn’t score asthma and very few of my students required any kind of medication. As teachers, we did not assign homework to our students until the fourth grade. We believed that youngsters needed fresh air and exercise as much as they needed lessons in the Three R’s. In my teaching career, children were able to attend neighborhood schools where children knew their classmates and neighbors. Most children today do not have that advantage. It must be simply awful to put a young child on a bus and send him or her off to a school in another section of town. It is against Saugus in her 0-for6 night. “She’s a great player. I watched her on film, and she’s tough,” Lowe said. “I thought Madison Botta and Madi Femino just kind of shut her down. Because the games that I saw them playing, when she gets going, their team gets going with open threes. And for us to shut her down was kind of what our gameplan was, and I thought they did a good job.” Saugus allowed only 1 field goal in the first quarter (Daniels’ bucket that made it 6-2). But Saugus only had 1 itself: DiBiasio’s 3-pointer that broke a 0-for-8 start to the game that made it 5-0 nearly 5 minutes into the contest. “All nerves,” Lowe said when asked about the slow start. “They had a good crowd. Parents were there. It was loud in here. I lost my voice a little bit. It was cracking. I think for us to miss six layups in the first quarter, I think that was all nerves. But I’m happy they no wonder why children are so stressed out in today’s society. I have been very fortunate to have lived a long life and to be able to see how well so many of my students turned out. Some of the ones I never expected to make it into the world became the most successful ones of all – one just never knows the real potential of a young student! Another advantage to living a long life has been the opportunity to meet many of my former students in our adult years. It is such a joy to talk to them about their elementary school days and the wonderful times we shared together at CliftonSaugus coach Joe Lowe is all smiles during a timeout. Saugus’ leading scorer Peyton DiBiasio got it out then.” It was Easy Road from there, as Saugus heated up on each end of the floor. And in the post-game, it led to an allsmiles Ana Silva, a Saugus senior who’s played for four years now and was longing for that first postseason win. “It feels amazing,” Silva said. “My senior year is coming to an end. So to get a tournadale School.—Miss Constance Putnam, October 2006 A letter from a former student To the Members of the MEG Foundation: Marleah Graves was a great help to me and the rest of my class in the second grade. Our class had a difficult first grade because it was the year that Miss Putnam retired, and we had no fewer than a dozen different teachers so that we made very little progress and had next to no continuity. So, it was up to Miss Graves to teach us both the first and secment win is something I’m going to remember.” Saugus girls basketball scoring against North High Peyton DiBiasio, 5-2-14; Ella Castle, 4-0-11; Madi Femino, 0-2-2; Devany Millerick, 0-3-3; Ashleen Escobar, 2-4-8; Ashleigh Moore, 1-0-3; Taylor Deleidi, 4-1-10; Jessica Bremberg, 2-0-4; Sydney Deleidi, 1-1-3. ond grade material when we arrived in her classroom. She did an excellent job and really bailed out our sinking boat. We were and still are very much indebted to her. She was very dedicated and took a keen interest in our well-being – showing special slide shows and other activities to enhance our interest and enthusiasm. It is very fitting that the Cliftondale School is being preserved and dedicated in her memory as she taught so faithfully and well for many, many years.—Charlie Gibbons, October 2011
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