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February 9, 2022 · 12:03 am

Amesbury downs Manchester-Essex 58-38

(Amesbury MA) “We couldn’t find the basket and they couldn’t miss,” said Manchester-Essex coach Lauren Dubois.

“We came out on fire,” said Amesbury coach Gregg Dollos.

The Indians (13-3) put the Hornets (3-12) away early and coasted to a, 58-38, win on Tuesday night.

Amesbury played a tight half-court, man-to-man defense and didn’t hesitate to initiate fast breaks. In their half-court offense, the passes were quick, and the layups and open looks were plentiful.

“We’ve been slowing down and not moving the ball enough lately,” explained senior McKenna Hallinan afterwards. “We want to pass quickly and get open shots and that’s what we did tonight.”

The Indians got off to an impressive 12-0 lead in the first 4 ½ minutes. Senior Liv DeLong was the key in the fast start. Liv nailed a jump shot (from McKenna), a layup (from Avery Hallinan), and then put in a rebound.

Emma Fitzgerald broke the ice for the Hornets and then Amesbury went off on another run of unanswered points.

This time it was fifteen straight. Avery Hallinan and Gabby Redford did most of the scoring damage for the Indians.

Avery found room in the lane for four layups. Gabby put in a rebound, connected on a three (from Sami Kimball), and hit a runner in the lane.

Avery finished the night with eighteen points while Gabby led all scorers with twenty-two points.

“They’re a great team with a lot of weapons on the offensive end,” said ME coach Lauren Dubois.

“They went box-and-one on Avery, but other players scored and then Avery started to score,” recalled Coach Dollos.

“We did what we had to do,” he added.

The two long runs of consecutive offense by Amesbury put them in front, 27-2, early in the second quarter. The Hornets didn’t have the firepower on this evening to get much closer. Both coaches substituted liberally thereafter.

“We have been trying to fix the problems we’ve been having,” said McKenna. “We want to make fewer mistakes with the playoffs coming up.”

The Indians are in Division 4 and according to the most recent MIAA power ratings are in third place. The top thirty-two teams make the playoffs. The higher seeds get the crucial home games in tourney play.

I asked McKenna about her sister reaching 1000 points: “It was great that Avery got 1000. I got to assist on the basket that she got it on and that was the best part.”

Coach Dubois: “We wanted to make sure that we were fighting all the way through tonight and we were.”

The Hornets have beaten Swampscott twice and also have a win over Georgetown.

Amesbury has won five straight.

Amesbury 23 19 10 6 = 58

ME 2 17 9 10 = 38

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Amelia Donnellan splits two Amesbury defenders

Newburyport defeats Manchester-Essex 53-26

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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.