WINTHROP — It was a tale of two halves on Monday evening with the Marblehead girls basketball team starting strong, but the Winthrop Vikings ending stronger beating their Northeastern Conference rival 46-38. 

The Magicians got off to a flying start, making five three-pointers to open the game to take a 21-6 lead going into the second quarter. 

One Magician who had the hot hand in the first quarter was Tessa Andriano who knocked down three first-quarter three-pointers. 

Despite the deficit, Vikings coach Anthony Hatzisavas told his team to “stick to the game plan.” 

“I told them it’s just basketball. Energy is everything and shots are going to eventually fall,” Hatzisavas said. “In the first quarter, Marblehead shot the ball great. We had to just stick to our game plan. Sometimes they might keep shooting it lights out, but luckily tonight our defensive intensity stepped up.”

The Vikings outscored the Magicians 11-3 in the second quarter and then 17-11 in the third quarter to trail 35-34 going into the fourth quarter. 

“It was a good game, we just didn’t do a good enough job on their players,” Magicians coach Paul Moran said. “Number four [Reese Brodin], their lefty, killed us. 23 [Kaylee Farrell] and 44 [Grace Fleuriel] killed us, we just didn’t do a good enough job.” 

Vikings guard Reese Brodin scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half to fuel the comeback. Hatzisavas praised her ability on both sides of the court. 

“She’s a menace on defense and in transition. She’s a great athlete and great basketball player,” Hatzisavas said. “It’s nice to have her instead of going against her.” 

Once the Vikings took the lead (39-37) they didn’t look back. Moran credited the Vikings’ adjustments to stifle Marblehead’s offense. 

“Ball movement wasn’t as good. They adjusted and did a much better job than us,” Moran said. “We’ll get back at it.” 

“Our power forward and center really stepped up tonight. Grace Fleuriel (19 points) and Kaylee Farrell (9 points) really stepped it up on the defensive end,” Hatzisavas said.

For Winthrop, it was a total team effort. Hatzisavas talked highly of his senior captains and critical role players to close the game. 

“My senior captains Reese Brodin, Grace Fleuriel, and Kaylee Farrell led the way,” Hatzisavas said. “Freshman Angela Tshowa had a great half. And sophomore Bailey Ferguson also played great.” 

Hatzisavas talked about his team’s potential and how the second half of the season could be a turning point. 

“I told them this is how good we can be. We have four losses this season, a couple in overtime and a couple by two,” Hatzisavas said. “The second half of the season is huge, this is where you can turn your season around.” 

For the Magicians, the loss can be used as a “learning experience” for his young team according to Moran. 

“We’re just really young and inexperienced,” Moran said. “It showed today. We’re getting there though. [This game] shows that we can play. We just need to play for 32 minutes and we’re not playing all 32 minutes yet.” 

Marblehead’s next game is on Thursday when it travels to Salem for a 6 p.m. game. The Vikings will host Saugus on the same day and time.