Tag Archives: Coach Karen Grutchfield

January 6, 2022 · 11:41 pm

Undefeated Newburyport (6-0) downs North Reading 45-29

Brianne Slattery chased by Olivia McDonald

(Newburyport MA) Things haven’t gone perfectly for the Newburyport girls’ basketball team.

Tonight was another one of those nights.

“The game was frustrating,” said NHS coach Karen Grutchfield afterwards. “We didn’t execute very well, and we missed a ton of shots early.”

But despite the imperfections the Clippers are perfect where it counts the most; wins and losses.

Newburyport (6-0) defeated North Reading, 45-29 in Cape Ann League action.

Good luck to the teams in the Cape Ann League when Newburyport plays really well!

“She (Coach Karen Grutchfield) has a great team here,” said NR coach Bob Romeo afterwards. “They play with a level of execution that it takes to win.”

It didn’t start out that way tonight as the Clippers trailed after three minutes, 4-2, and called a timeout.

Not sure what was said in the timeout but the next two minutes of playing time were a showcase for recently returned Deirdre McElhinney. Deirdre had missed several games with Covid.

The talented junior knocked down consecutive three’s and put in a fancy layup after a feed from MaKenna Ward.

Suddenly it’s the Clippers up, 10-4, and their lead would grow from there.

“It’s good to be back,” said Deirdre (12 points). “I’m feeling much better than I did last week.”

The Hornets (1-5) then sealed their fate by slipping into a nightmarish second quarter getting only three points.

“We struggle to score especially when we play really good teams that dig in and play defense,” said NR coach Bob Romeo.

The Hornets, led by Brianne Slattery and Faith Newton, were able to get to the basket but had trouble finishing. When the Hornets were fouled, they struggled at the line.

“Our foul shooting (1-for-8 in the second quarter) was not good,” admitted Coach Romeo. “If you can’t make free throws and layups it’s going to be a long game.”

Newburyport led, 25-9, at the half and extended that lead to twenty points (35-15) in the third quarter.

Emma Foley (15 points) got hot from the right baseline collecting eight points in the third quarter.

North Reading played an active zone defense for the entire game. Newburyport featured man-to-man almost all the way.

“Anna Seidel did a good job on #15 (Faith Newton),” said Coach Grutchfield post-game. “I thought she made a difference.”

North Reading kept Newburyport out of the 50’s for the first time this season.

“They (North Reading) showed that we didn’t run our zone offense very effectively,” said Coach Grutchfield.

The Clippers usually passed into open looks but shot inconsistently from the openings.

“It was good to play against a zone,” said Deirdre. “We were able to work for shots outside and hit our posts when they came out after us.”

Coach Romeo liked the way his team attacked the basket. “We were getting to the rim against a very good defensive team. That’s a positive.”

Coach Grutchfield: “It’s fabulous to have Deirdre back. She’s fun to watch. She’s such a smart player. But I do want her to shoot more.”

The two teams will match up again on January 21^st at North Reading.

(The pictures enlarge when you click on them.)

Deirdre McElhinney passes to Brela Pavao (13)

Deirdre McElhinney tries to get to the basket

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Filed under Newburyport, North Reading

Tagged as Anna Seidel, Brianne Slattery, Coach Bob Romeo, Coach Karen Grutchfield, Deirdre McElhinney, Emma Foley, Faith Newton

December 15, 2021 · 1:07 am

Newburyport defeats Manchester-Essex 53-26

(Click on the pictures below and they will enlarge.)

Plenty of pressure applied by the Clippers

(Newburyport MA) Don’t let the final score fool you.

The final was Newburyport 53, Manchester-Essex 26.

But the Hornets were more than holding their own into the second half.

In fact, the visitors were ahead, 22-21, 2 ½ minutes into the second half.

But the one constant was the Newburyport pressure defense. In the second half, that defense created points in bunches and ME couldn’t keep up.

“We had a great first half,” said ME coach Lauren Dubois afterwards, “and we handled their pressure better.”

“We struggled, however, against it in the second half,” she added. “Newburyport picked up the intensity and we ran out of gas a little bit.”

MaKenna Ward stole the ball and went the full length of the court to give the Clippers the lead for good, 23-22, in the second half.

After that the non-stop pressure set up a steady flow of productive possessions for Newburyport.

“When we play our defense,” said MaKenna Ward, “we get steals and we run.”

Olivia Foley and MaKenna Ward turn up the defensive pressure

“We work on a lot of different defenses,” added MaKenna.

In the first half, the Clippers were primarily man-to-man and while they created twenty turnovers (by my count) those turnovers weren’t leading to a flow of points.

In the second half, the double-teams started. Makenna Ward, Deirdre McElhinney, and Olivia McDonald swarmed the Hornets’ ballhandlers into miscues. In the second half, the takeaways often turned into points.

“Our team is fast,” said MaKenna. “When we push, we score the most.”

Newburyport’s Emma Foley (14 points) had all of those points in the second half.

“We held them to six points in the second half,” said Clippers coach Karen Grutchfield post-game. “That was the difference.”

Coach Grutchfield couldn’t help but reflect on her team’s first half: “It was frustrating. We missed a lot of layups and free throws.”

“But,” she added, “we overcame the first-half adversity and I think we can enjoy our play in the second half.”

One thing that both coaches could agree on was the impressive game that ME’s Emma Fitzgerald had.

Coach Dubois: “Emma brings intensity. She’s a great leader. She battles hard on every possession.”

Coach Grutchfield: “We had trouble with #3 (Emma Fitzgerald). She’s a very good player.”

Emma led all scorers with sixteen points. She tallied all of ME’s second-half points.

MaKenna Ward and Deirdre McElhinney both had thirteen points for Newburyport.

This was a game played almost entirely on the inside. No three’s were made and very few were attempted.

When Newburyport went into organized offense, they were intent on getting the ball inside to Emma Foley. That strategy was the key to Emma’s productive second half.

This was the season opener for both squads.

Free throw shooting was an adventure for both teams. They combined to miss twenty-five freebies. ME was 10/25 while Newburyport was 13/23.

Coach Dubois: “Newburyport is a great team with a lot of experienced players back.”

Coach Grutchfield: “The win was nice, but we all have a lot of improving to do.”

MaKenna Ward: “I think that we were a little bit scared in the first half and not playing our best defense.”

Newburyport 11 – 8 – 17 – 17 = 53

Manchester-Essex 9 – 11 – 4 – 2 = 26

The Clippers scored the last fifteen points of the game.

(All of the pictures will enlarge if you click on them.)

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Filed under Manchester-Essex, Newburyport

Tagged as Coach Karen Grutchfield, Coach Lauren Dubois, Deirdre McElhinney, Emma Fitzgerald, Emma Foley, MaKenna Ward

January 19, 2021 · 10:55 pm

Undefeated Newburyport defeats Amesbury 46-18 led by Abigail Gillingham’s 20 points

Newburyport Clippers are undefeated after six games

Amesbury’s Avery Hallinan (11) looks for someone to pass to.

Abigail Gillingham (20 points)

(Newburyport MA) This was not a good matchup.

Amesbury was overwhelmed by Newburyport, 46-18, on Tuesday night at NHS.

The Indians faced undefeated Newburyport with only three days of practice, thanks to a ruling by the Amesbury School Committee.

The Clippers, now 6-0, could easily be the best team in the Cape Ann League. They have been together for weeks and their play on both ends of the court shows it.

In this game, Newburyport passed its way to high percentage shots while defending Amesbury into low percentage shots.

Abigail Gillingham (20 points) was a game-long problem for the Indians. Neither their perimeter defense nor their inside defense was effective enough to slow down the Clippers.

Avery Hallinan tries to cover Abigail Gillingham in close

“Abigail Gillingham was very good tonight,” admitted Amesbury coach Gregg Dollos afterwards, “but we didn’t battle the post. We gave her all the positioning she wanted.”

Even when the Clippers missed shots in close there were teammates on hand to cash rebounds.

“Abigail did a great job of getting her body in the paint and we made really good passes to her,” said NHS coach Karen Grutchfield post-game.

Amesbury’s defensive struggles on the interior eliminated Newburyport’s need to rely on long-range shots and they took very few.

The Clippers gained separation 24-12 at halftime and Abigail had fifteen of Newburyport’s points.

Clippers interior defense

The Clippers defense truly made things tough for the visitors later on and they could only get six points in the entire second half. There were very few clean looks from anyplace for the Indians all night long.

“Our defense is the key to everything we do,” explained Abigail afterwards. “Amesbury had trouble with our 1-2-2 press.”

“Our passing wasn’t good at all,” explained Coach Dollos. “There were just too many individual things going on out there.”

It all came down to a well-organized team facing a team just getting used to being together.

Block by Liv DeLong

The Indians have two days to prepare for their home opener Friday versus Lynnfield. The time together should help them to improve.

“Amesbury has good kids and they’re physical,” said Coach Grutchfield. “We were fortunate to catch them when we did.”

Deidre McElhinney had nine points for Newburyport while Avery Hallinan paced the Indians with ten points.

Newburyport box

Amesbury box

Interesting to see Amesbury’s Alyssa Pettet trying basketball her senior year. She’ll be playing soccer for Holy Cross in the fall.

Newburyport seniors

Newburyport’s two seniors (Abigail Gillingham & Leah Metsker) were honored after the game.

This story/pictures will appear on my online blog (McClelland Miscellanea). The link to the game with be on Twitter (mcclellandpeter). Mascores has also been posting my entries. There should be pictures showing up on Instagram (McclellandMiscellanea) over the next few days.

(All of the pictures above and below should enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Newburyport triple-team

Alyssa Pettet gets to the basket

Gabby Redford tied up by Gabby Loughran and Makenna Ward

Jackie Doucette guards Gabby Redford

Abigail Gillingham jump shot in the lane

Deidre McElhinney (9 points) to the rim

Leah Metsker

Liv DeLong guards Abigail Gillingham

Mary Bullis

Metskers

Gillinghams

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Filed under Amesbury, Newburyport

Tagged as Abigail Gillingham, Coach Gregg Dollos, Coach Karen Grutchfield, Deidre McElhinney

January 5, 2021 · 11:15 pm

Abigail Gillingham (17 points) leads Newburyport by Ipswich 39-24 in CAL opener

Senior Abigail Gillingham (17 pts) led all scorers

Leah Metsker and Gabby Loughran trap Ava Horsman

(Newburyport MA) The Newburyport Clippers were good defensively all night.

The offense took a while to kick in.

But when it did, the visiting Ipswich Tigers were in trouble and fell to the Clippers, 39-24, on Tuesday night at NHS in the Cape Ann League opener for both teams.

Senior Abigail Gillingham (17 points) collected nine points in Newburyport’s game-turning, 16-point unanswered streak in the second half.

Jennie Tarr’s shot-clock buzzer beater had the Tigers within one, 21-20, with 1 ½ minutes left in the third quarter.

Riley Daly drew plenty of Newburyport attention

Ipswich coach Chris Tolios was pleased with the rally: “The girls played hard. We went into the final quarter only down three points against one of the best teams in the Cape Ann League.”

And the Tiger’s top returning scorer (Riley Daly) hadn’t scored a point yet!

“We had missed a ton of shots,” explained Newburyport coach Karen Grutchfield post-game. “I don’t think that our shot selection was great. We didn’t take what they gave us.”

None of that had to do with the 4^th quarter, however.

The Clippers began to make shots and make it look easy.

Newburyport huddle

“When things got ugly, we did recover,” admitted Coach Grutchfield.

The Clippers made shots inside and outside and Ipswich couldn’t match them down the other end.

Key basket (Abigail Gillingham) in the sixteen-point streak was scored after three straight, offensive putbacks.

Sydney Turner’s layup from Makenna Ward ended the NHS run five minutes into the 4^th period with the score now, 37-20.

The Clippers defense was tough throughout.

“Our team strength is our lockdown defense,” explained Abigail. Newburyport has length and allowed few open shots from anywhere.

Emma Foley steals from Riley Daly

It seemed as if almost every Ipswich possession in the first half had Coach Chris Tolios counting down the final seconds so that the Tigers would get off a shot before the thirty-second clock went off.

Ipswich was quicker on offense in the second half and that was how they rallied to make things interesting in the third quarter.

“Newburyport made plays at the end that we couldn’t make,” added Coach Tolios.

Coach Grutchfield was pleased with the win but added, “offensively we’ve got a lot of work to do against zone defenses.”

It wasn’t hard to miss the novelty of the situation. The doors were locked. There were no spectators. Everyone had a mask on. There were some rule adjustments especially on free throws.

Maddie Duffy gets off a shot for Ipswich

The game was extremely quick. I think it lasted just an hour. I think that half-time was five minutes long and the teams didn’t leave the court.

There was a bigger picture.

Coach Tolios: “At the end of the day we were playing basketball. We’re lucky to be here.”

Abigail Gillingham: “All of us have made the decision that we have to make the most of what we’ve got. We’re grateful that we even get to play. We’ll work through the rules and make something great out of it.”

Newburyport box

Ipswich box

(The story and pictures will be posted on Mascores and the link to it on Twitter. May post some pictures on Instagram.)

The pictures above and below will enlarge if you click on them.