(Newburyport MA) The Haverhill Hillies were on the wrong end of Emma Foley’s career game.
“We couldn’t stop her,” said Haverhill coach Melissa Tarpy afterwards. “She had a ton of points.”
Thirty-one, to be exact.
“It was the best I’ve done,” said Emma post-game.
Emma’s big night was the key in Newburyport’s 58-35 win over Haverhill on Monday night.
“I definitely couldn’t have scored all those points without some great looks from Sydney (Turner), Makenna (Ward), and Deirdre (McElhinney),” said Emma. “They did a really good job of finding me tonight.”
The Hillies (3-14) used a man-to-man defense in the first half. The Clippers (15-2) countered by spreading out and putting Emma close to the basket. With single coverage and space to operate, Emma went to work.
The two teams played a week ago and Newburyport only won by eight points (54-46).
“I didn’t put the ball in the hoop very well,” said Emma of the sixteen points she had at Haverhill.
No such problem tonight.
The Clippers were up, 19-8, after a quarter and Emma already had eighteen points! The variety of scoring maneuvers was impressive. There were assisted baskets in close, mixed in with a rebound basket as well as one on a full-court drive.
A three-pointer by Haley Phillips (15 points) had the Hillies within two points (8-6). Emma answered with nine straight points and Deirdre McElhinney (11 points) added a free throw. Suddenly the NHS lead was twelve points (18-6).
In the second quarter, a three by Sydney Spencer set the score at 21-11 a minute into that quarter.
The game got away from Haverhill in the next four minutes.
The Clippers scored fifteen unanswered points to lead, 36-11, and took the mystery out of the outcome.
“We kept making mistakes,” said Coach Tarpy.
Deirdre and Emma each had six points during the consecutive run of great offense and defense.
The Hillies played much better in the second half. They switched to a zone defense and the easy passes to Emma Foley near the basket disappeared. And when Emma did get the ball, she had to deal with multiple defenders.
Emma still was able to add seven points to her 24-point first half and end up with a career-best thirty-one points. The score difference kept Emma on the bench for some of the fourth quarter or she might have added to her total.
The biggest cheer of the night? It wasn’t for Emma. It was for Sydney Turner after she stole a pass and turned it into her first points of the night.
It was Senior Day and Sydney is Newburyport’s only senior. Sydney had a nice group of friends/family with “Syd” shirts on in attendance.
“I’m so proud of Sydney,” said Clippers coach Karen Grutchfield afterwards. “We always put her on the other team’s best offensive player.”
Emma had nine rebounds and her sister (Olivia) had five rebounds. Makenna Ward had five steals.
I asked Emma about the 63-45 loss to Pentucket last Thursday: “We had breakdowns all over the court. We struggled to score in the second half, and they were getting layup after layup. When we do a good job of stopping the drives, we play well. It didn’t help that Makenna and I had four fouls. It was tough to play defense with those fouls. Hopefully, we’ll see them again.”
Newburyport 19 17 11 11 = 58
Haverhill 8 7 12 8 = 35
(The pictures will enlarge.)
McClelland Miscellanea 