McKenzie Cloutier (12 points) readies a block attempt against Emily Pettigrew (13 points)
Megan Reid (11 points) gets off a shot
(Amesbury MA) Amesbury put runs of points together in both halves and defeated Newburyport, 53-35, on Friday night in Cape Ann League play. The win avenges an earlier loss to the Clippers.
In the first half the Indians (6-5) put a 13-2 segment together to build up a ten-point league. In the second half the home team ran fourteen unanswered points and with it ended any curiosity about the final outcome.
The Clippers (3-9) missed a ton of shots but credit the Amesbury defense for allowing very few uncontested shot attempts.
McKenzie Cloutier (12 points) led the AHS scorers getting ten of them in the second quarter. After Newburyport had moved to within seven points (17-10) in the second quarter on a driving layup by freshman Krysta Padellaro, McKenzie tallied three straight baskets to set up Amesbury with a, 23-10, halftime advantage.
Morgan Johnston (10 points) puts up a shot in the paint
The Clippers finally were able to get some shots to fall in the third quarter. Krysta, Morgan Johnston (10 points), and Emily Pettigrew (13 points) combined for fifteen points for NHS in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the third quarter and the visitors were within ten, 35-25. When Emily drained a three-pointer the Amesbury lead was sliced to seven.
Plenty of game left for Newburyport to finish the comeback. The Clippers hopes were further buoyed by word that Amanda Martin had fouled out with 2:18 left in that 3rd quarter.
But rather than being in trouble, the Indians took their seven-point lead (35-28) and added fourteen straight points to it while holding Newburyport scoreless. Shut out for 6+ minutes, the Clippers emerged from the dry spell down and out, 49-28, with four minutes left.
Zoe Fitzgerald looks for someone to pass to
Megan Reid, Julia LaMontagne, Abbie Sartori, McKenzie Cloutier, and Zoe Fitzgerald scored points in the game-deciding Amesbury streak.
Junior Megan Reid finished with eleven points for Amesbury.
Newburyport has now lost four of their last five games. Amesbury has won three of four.
Newburyport won the first meeting between the two teams, 50-48, on January 5th. Olivia Olson had twenty points in that one. This time around the AHS defense held Olivia to a quiet two points.
The Indians won despite little playing time for Cape Ann League All-Star Amanda Martin. Amanda was a foul-magnet from the very outset getting two fouls in the first forty-nine seconds. She picked up a 3rd in the second quarter and in the third quarter two more. The 5th one came on an Amesbury 2-on-1 fastbreak and didn’t sit well with the Amesbury faithful. But on this evening it didn’t matter because the Indians had tight defense no matter who was playing and shots were falling for their team.
waiting for play to resume
The free throw shooting wasn’t very good in this game: Amesbury (11-for-19) and Newburyport (4-for-13).
Both teams resume play on Tuesday. Newburyport hosts Lynnfield while Amesbury visits Triton. Tessa Lafrance and Erin Savage from the Triton team were in the house tonight.
(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)
Abbie Sartori gets in for two
Olivia Olson tries to finish as Abbie Sartori defends
Tight defense by Amesbury
Polly Corbett shoots a three
Emily Pettigrew goes for a block on Zoe Fitzgerald
Olivia Olson (#5)
