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February 3, 2021 · 10:35 pm

Newburyport stays undefeated with exciting 58-54 win at Pentucket

Newburyport celebrates a rare win over Pentucket

Mackenzie Currie (18 points) heads into the heart of the Newburyport defense

(West Newbury MA) Pentucket doesn’t lose very often at home, or anywhere else, for that matter.

But the visiting Newburyport Clippers got that rare feat done, 58-54, on Wednesday night.

Both teams were undefeated and had large-margin wins over everyone else in the Cape Ann League.

“It was the win of the season for us,” said Newburyport senior Abigail Gillingham (10 points) afterwards. “They don’t expect anyone to come in here and give them a hard time. We had the mindset that this was our game, and no one was going to take it away from us.”

Both teams were aggressive on offense (taking the ball to the basket) and defense. There was never a chance that the 30-second shot clock would be used.

Two Mackenzie Currie free throws put the Sachems (7-1) ahead by two, 52-50, with 1:18 left.

“I thought we had enough to win,” said Pentucket coach John McNamara, “after we got the lead but give them credit, they knocked down free throws.”

Not only did Newburyport make free throws (eight in the final forty-four seconds) but even when they missed, they were able to immediately get the ball back and produce points.

Senior Leah Metsker (9 points) made her first attempt, missed the second but got her own rebound and earned two more free throws. She made both and the Clippers led, 53-52.

Leah Metsker shoots a free throw

After a Pentucket turnover, Deidre McElhinney (11 points) was fouled. She made the first, missed the second, but the Sachems lost the rebound out of bounds.

Deidre McElhinney shoots free throws

More chances followed for Newburyport at the line. Leah Metsker made both and now the Clippers were up four, 56-52, with ten seconds left as the game got away from Pentucket.

Deidre McElhinney guarded by Greta Maurer

“I’m glad I could make some clutch shots,” said Leah. “I tried hard to focus because the gym was so loud.”

“It was such a relief that we could finish it out,” added Deidre.

“Props to Leah and Deidre for making their free throws at the end,” added Abigail Gillingham.

Part of Pentucket’s defensive strategy was limit Abigail’s touches.

“We focused on her and gave up shots to other kids instead,” explained Coach McNamara, “but some of those kids made shots.”

Abigail Gillingham (10 points) guarded by Mackenzie Currie

Abigail didn’t even touch the ball for the first four minutes of the game.

Credit Mackenzie Currie for the tough defense on the NHS top scorer although she had plenty of help from nearby teammates.

Mackenzie led all scorers with eighteen points. The Pentucket senior (going to St. Joe’s next year) hit two 3’s and went hard to the basket even against multiple defenders.

Sophomore Abby Dube tallied fourteen points including three 3’s. Her last three was part of a seven-point run in the final quarter that gave Pentucket the 52-50 lead.

A key contributor for NHS was sophomore Jackie Doucette (12 points). Jackie had a couple of three’s, as well as a full-court drive.

Newburyport coach Karen Grutchfield: “It was a nice team win. I am so happy for Leah. Shooting under those circumstances is hard, but she did it. I thought that Emma (Foley) did a good job rebounding and scoring.”

It certainly didn’t help Pentucket to lose their top scorer (Arielle Cleveland) four minutes into the game.

Pentucket coach John McNamara

“Despite not having Arielle available, we still had a chance to win and didn’t,” added Coach McNamara.

Newburyport had lost seven straight to Pentucket dating back to February of 2017.

“We’re so excited to finally beat them,” said Leah.

The Clippers had only four turnovers in the second half while the Sachems had nine.

Jackie Doucette: “We’ve been preparing for Pentucket for a while. We had a good idea of what they would do.”

Impressed with Pentucket sophomore Audrey Conover. First time I’ve seen her play.

One of the advantages for coaches is that all of the Cape Ann League games are being filmed for the excluded public. No need to do any in-person scouting.

Easy to imagine how noisy it would have been if folks could have attended.

Pentucket box

Newburyport box

The coverage of this game will be linked on Twitter (@mcclellandpeter) and be on my McClelland Miscellanea online blog. Hoping to get it posted on Mascores too. Pictures should show up on Instagram (@mcclellandmiscellanea).

All of the pictures above and below will enlarge if you click on them.

Lana Mickelson

Jackie Doucette (12 points)

Deidre McElhinney breaks after a steal

Greta Mauer

Gabby Bellacqua, Abby Dube, Makenna Ward

Gabby Loughran

Deidre McElhinney passes out of a double-team

Abby Dube (14 points)

Mackenzie Currie

Audrey Conover and Deidre McElhinney

Emma Lopata

Deidre McElhinney

Mackenzie Currie puts Pentucket up by two

Jackie Doucette (12 points) shoots from long range

Newburyport overwhelms Lynnfield early getting 61-29 win

Anna Affolter was part of a tight Newburyport defense

The Clippers turned missed Lynnfield shots into fast break opportunities.

Deidre McElhinney (13 points) led all scorers.

(Newburyport MA) Impressive performance by the Clippers.

Undefeated Newburyport (4-0) dazzled in every aspect of the game and routed Lynnfield, 61-29, on Wednesday night at NHS.

The Clippers smothered the winless Pioneers (0-3) defensively from the get-go and were about as good on offense as you can get.

“We came out strong,” said NHS high scorer Deidre McElhinney afterwards in what could well have been the understatement of the year!

The Clippers scored the first eleven points of the game and may not have missed a shot during the hot start.

By the end of the first quarter, seven different Clippers had contributed points and NHS was in control, 24-5.

Leah Metsker and Riley Hallahan

“Once we started making shots, we gained more confidence,” explained senior Leah Metsker.

Four of the NHS baskets were on offensive rebound conversions. Three came on 3-point shots, while another was off a turnover that high scorer Deidre McElhinney (13 points) turned into a layup.

“A lot of us were on tonight,” added Deidre in yet another understatement.

Sophomore Jackie Doucette told me post-game, “I wasn’t really on tonight,” yet she still ended up with eleven points.

Clippers coach Karen Grutchfield was pleased with the way things went: “I thought they did great. Our whole focus was defensive pressure and out of that pressure we got transition points.”

The Clippers seemed to have the right answers for each defense the Pioneers tried.

Abigail Gillingham (8 points) shoots over the Lynnfield defense

Against Ipswich, Newburyport struggled with the visitor’s zone defense. Not tonight. Plenty of good passes including cross-court ones that turned up high-percentage looks. Even on misses, the Clippers size and positioning resulted in nine rebound baskets.

Impressive show, to say the least.

Credit Lynnfield for never giving up despite falling behind by as many as thirty-five (56-21) early in the final quarter.

“They were taller than us and played great,” said Lynnfield coach Jeannine Cavallaro afterwards referencing Newburyport. “You get down by twenty early, it’s hard to come back.”

Tight Clippers defense on the inside kept two of Lynnfield’s Cape Ann League All-Stars (Caroline Waisnor & Grace Klonsky) on the perimeter and shut down the driving lanes for them. They were each limited to four points.

Caroline Waisnor on defense

“We got some decent looks,” added Coach Cavallaro, “but our offense has been stagnant so far.”

Sophomore Isabella George led the Pioneers with ten points.

Abigail Gillingham (8), Emma Foley (8), and Sydney Turner (7) added points for Newburyport.

I thought that the individual defense of Anna Affolter and Makenna Ward on Grace Klonsky was excellent.

The early score-separation gave both coaches opportunity to give everyone plenty of playing time. “We have plenty of depth,” said Coach Grutchfield, “and we don’t lose a lot when we substitute. Our scoring was spread out (nine players scored) and I like that.”

Newburyport lost twice to Lynnfield last year. “We remembered last year,” said Deidre.

Lynnfield coach Jeannine Cavallaro

The Pioneers have certainly gone through some changes since last year’s 13-7 season. The Morelli sisters graduated. CAL All-Star Cate MacDonald (averaged 12 rebounds per game) transferred to New Hampton Prep. Three players are out with injuries. And they have a new coach.

“We’re missing players,” said Coach Cavallaro, “and we’ve been quarantining it. So we’re behind but that’s no excuse. You have to come out and play.”

Grace Klonsky is committed to Denison while Caroline Waisnor will join the Endicott Gulls this fall.

The good start by Newburyport bodes well for their schedule ahead. “If we start the way we did tonight, we’ll be in good shape the rest of the way,” said Deidre McElhinney.

The other two CAL games I have covered have been posted on Mascores and this one should be also. The link to my blog (McClelland Miscellanea) will be on Twitter (@mcclellandpeter) will be on Twitter. I also hope to get pictures on Instagram (Mcclellandmiscellanea).

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