If the first two outings from the Peabody girls basketball team are an indication of what’s to come, then get ready for what might be one of the most exciting seasons in Stan McKeen’s 11 years as head coach.
The team tipped off Friday night with a 60-49 at Beverly. Three Tanners registered double-digit points. Aliana Ryan led the way with 13 points and six assists, while Sophia Coburn had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Lizzie Bettencourt scored 12 points to go with eight rebounds. The Tanners may have won the game at the free throw line, draining 25 of 30.
Less than 24 hours later, Tanners were back at it at the 31st Annual Paul Duchane Basketball Jamboree at Lynn Classical, going down to a scrappy Malden Catholic team, 35-24. Undermanned due to injuries, the good news for McKeen was the play of a trio of freshmen.
McKeen said that with no preseason scrimmages, “we went into Beverly blindsided, so they never got to see varsity action until the jamboree and they looked good.”
Last year, the Tanners finished the regular season 13-7 to earn the No. 29 seed in the Division 1 state tournament. They defeated No. 36 Beverly in the preliminary round, then were ousted by No. 4 Woburn in the round of 32. The “other” Tanners have had Peabody’s number in recent years, having eliminated Peabody the last two years and three of the last five.
Fast forward one year when the Tanners will be led by senior captains Maia Davis and Allyson Bettencourt, both guards. Also returning are junior forward Sophia Coburn, junior guards Aliana Ryan and Olivia Gaynor, junior forward Lizzie Bettencourt and sophomore guard Avery Bettencourt.
“Our six returners have played a lot so they have experience, which is good. But the reality is in terms of depth, we are going to be on the light side. We probably will go eight deep in terms of experience,” McKeen said.
Promising newcomers include Essex Tech sophomore transfer Ava Ryan, a forward, who McKeen said “has looked pretty good at practice,” along with freshmen guards Olivia Ball and Ayla Ryan and freshman forward/guard Gabriella Goslick. McKeen said the three freshmen will also see significant time on JV to gain experience.
“We’re putting them on the roster, but they will basically play JV,” McKeen said. “The good thing about basketball is they can play six quarters a game between JV and varsity, so they will play at least three and probably four quarters every game.”
McKeen said he doesn’t yet know exactly what the team’s strengths are, but he does know the team “will have some speed and quickness that hopefully translates defensively to creating turnovers.”
McKeen also believes this year’s team will be multi-dimensional with many more players capable of contributing to the offense. Last year’s team revolved around a pair of four-year starters: three-time NEC Player of the Year Logan Lomasney and NEC All-Star Abby Bettencourt.
“Logan was almost 20 points a game and Abby was good for six or seven points, so we are losing 25 points roughly a game,” McKeen said. “I am hoping Ally Betencourt and our two bigs, Lizzie and Sophia, along with Aliana Ryan and Olivia Gaynor are going to contribute more this year. I hope they can make up the difference for what we are losing with Abby and Logan. The depth is there that we haven’t had in terms of creating more offense with different people than in past years when everybody focused on two players. It’s going to be diversified this year, depending on who steps up. Now, opponents can’t focus on just one or two individual players since no one really knows who is going to step up.”
As far as the Northeastern Conference goes, McKeeen expects the usual suspects to represent the cream of the crop.
“Masco will be tough – they always are,” McKeen said. “I don’t know too much about Beverly, but they lost their best player to a private school. Swampscott is always tough and Danvers has that one dominant player who is tough to defend.”
The Tanners have a challenging non-league schedule that includes games against Lincoln-Sudbury, North Andover (home-and-away), Waltham, Newton North and Reading (at the IABBO tournament hosted by Marblehead over Christmas break).
“I went with a tough schedule because, again, because of the MIAA power rankings. The problem is, in our league, we and Beverly are the only Division 1 teams. We have to play Division 1 non-league schools because our league is mostly Division 2 and 3 schools. Otherwise, our ranking suffers.”
In 10 seasons, McKeen has posted a record of 131-61, leading the Tanners to winning seasons in each of the last five years. Prior to taking over as head coach following the retirement of Jane Heil, McKeen coached 10 years at the sub-varsity level.
McKeen’s daughter, Peabody Athletics Hall-of-Famer Tracey McKeen Pallazzola, and Joy Wallace return for another season as assistant coaches.
