Tag Archives: Leah Chittick

March 2, 2012 · 11:06 pm

North Andover led by Morgan Lumb (22 points) easily defeats Tewksbury (52-34) in D2 North Round One

Morgan Lumb (22 points) cuts through Tewksbury defenders.

Morgan shoots over Shannon Semenza. She had four long ones.

(Lawrence) North Andover dominated the first half, Morgan Lumb (22 points) dominated the third quarter, and the Scarlet Knights easily defeated Tewksbury (52-34) in the first round of the D2 North on Friday night.

Twelve days ago NA and Tewksbury had played a tight 39-34 game so the rematch figured to be close. Hardly.

By halftime the Redman trailed 24-4. That’s right, 4!

A math whiz will figure out that Tewksbury won the second half…..and they did, but the cows had left the barn before the second half was played.

North Andover (14-7) defensed Tewksbury (9-12) into tough shots while the Knights patiently ran organized offense that turned up one good look after another.

The NA defense (looked like a 1-3-1 to me) led to few breakaways but did cause fourteen first half turnovers.

The Knights scored the first ten points of the game and only a last-second buzzer beater by Shannon Semenza (8 points) kept the Redmen from a first period shutout.

Sara Semenza prepares to block

The second period was more of the same. The Redmen this time got their two points on free throws (Sara Semenza and Nicole Chaet). The Knights found points in close (three layups and a converted rebound) and long range (Morgan Lumb and Leah Chittick). North Andover led, 24-4, at the half and what was there that could make the second half interesting?

Enter Morgan Lumb. I may not be the first one to have this thought but when Andover’s Nicole Boudreau has moved on to Boston College next year and the talk starts about the best girl player in the state, Morgan Lumb’s name should be in the mix.

I’ve seen the 5-8 junior twice now and she has dazzled on the offensive end. She has the strength for NBA range 3’s. Her dribbling skills are excellent and she can get to the basket in a hurry. She will also give the ball up to teammates.

She didn’t do much of the latter in the third period because she was feeling it. Morgan put on the best one-period show I can remember, getting all fifteen of NA’s points in the quarter.

You want long range? The first two scores were 3’s. You want in close? The next two were a layup (from Mackenzie Mello) and a converted rebound. How about a little longer? Try a baseline jumper. The grand finale was an NBA length 3-spot off the backboard at the buzzer. Very impressive!

Credit Tewksbury for persistent offense in the second half despite Morgan’s third quarter outburst. Trailing 44-22, early in the final period the Redmen ran nine straight to close to a more respectable 44-31 difference. A three from Katie Dohery sparked the run. But that was as close as #12 seed Tewksbury would get.

Leah Chittick (11 points) and Sara Semenza (7 points)

Freshman Leah Chittick had eleven points for North Andover.

#5 seed North Andover moves to the quarterfinals against #4 seed Concord-Carlisle.

The NA/Tewksbury game was originally scheduled for Thursday but snowy weather forced postponement.

The game was played at palatial Lawrence High School because the North Andover gymnasium has water damage.

The crowd at the girls game grew as the game went on because there was a boys game between Salem and North Andover to follow it.

Tewksbury was knocked out of the D2 North tourney a year ago by North Andover. The score that time was 32-16.

Tewksbury qualified for the tournament because they finished second in the Merrimack Valley Conference.

North Andover is leaving the Cape Ann League and joining the MVC this fall.

North Andover boxscore

Tewksbury boxscore

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

Michaela Mello

Sherri Ligerrio

Pam Coufos

Mackenzie Mello

Jillian Madden

floor scramble

Morgan Lumb

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Filed under North Andover, Tewksbury

February 10, 2012 · 11:57 pm

North Andover starts fast and never looks back in 47-36 win over Newburyport in girls basketball

Morgan Lumb (22 points) launches a triple. She made four of them in the game.

(Newburyport) North Andover started NASCAR fast and left Newburyport in the distant dust while cruising to a 47-36 win at NHS on Friday night.

NHS senior sign

Prior to the Newburyport’s final regular-season home game, the Clippers recognized their three seniors (Beth Castantini, Molly Rowe, and Cady Bennett) and their parents. That was the last celebrating the home team would do.

The Knights shut down Newburyport for the opening six minutes and were up twelve zip. NA hit the Clippers hard on both ends. Their trapping and scrapping wrecked any kind of flow toward Clipper scoring opportunities while on offense their passing and cutting gave great looks.

NHS coach Gregg Dollas went through two quick timeouts with the volume in the huddle much louder in the second one.

After the noisy timeout the Clippers put in their best six minutes of play in the game. They outscored the visitors, 16-7, and trailed only, 19-16, with four minutes to go in the first half. The key to the good play was getting points from seven different players. Meri Adsit had an old-fashioned 3-point play assisted by Molly Rowe to highlight the Clipper surge. As the points rolled up, it was North Andover coach Susan Breen using a timeout to try and cool off Newburyport.

Leah Chittick (12 points) flies in for a layup.

And did the Clippers cool off. It was like the disastrous beginning of this game all over again. NA rattled off seven straight to end the first half (26-16) and their run wasn’t finished.

The third quarter saw NA’s Morgan Lumb put on an awfully good Brooke Stewart (Masco) impersonation, dropping fifteen of her game-high twenty-two points on the stunned Clippers. There were three triples, a nifty spin down the lane, a turnover turned into a layup, and two free throws. Dazzling display by the junior!

The Clippers found themselves behind, 43-21, after three quarters.

The final score of some games is misleading and this is certainly one of them. NA got up, 45-21, fifteen seconds into the last quarter and didn’t get any more points until the very end, as liberal substituting kicked in for both teams. The Clippers put together a collection of fourteen unanswered points but never got closer than ten.

Senior Beth Castantini (10 points) heavily defended by MacKenzie Mello

Newburyport (11-6) has all road games left starting Monday night with arguably the best team in the league, Pentucket, at Pentucket. The Clippers have now lost three straight and need to find some positive traction before the Division 3 state tournament starts.

North Andover (10-6) qualified for the Division 2 state tournament with the win over Newburyport. Their record is a bit deceiving since they lost to the best girls’ team in the state (Andover) twice this season. The Knights next game is versus Triton at home on Tuesday night.

Freshman Leah Chittick had twelve points for the Knights.

Beth Castantini (10 points) led the Clipper scorers. Lilly Donovan had six points and had the unenviable task of chasing Morgan Lumb around for a good part of the night.

I had hoped to get a picture of the seniors with their parents but it just didn’t work out.

North Andover boxscore

Newburyport boxscore

(All the pictures above and below enlarge significantly if you click on them.)

Morgan Lumb

Rebecca Kell shoots

Senior Cady Bennett

Aly Leahy and Leah Chittick

Alex Medlock defends

Senior Molly Rowe

Pam Coufos breaks away

loose ball

North Andover Defeats Amesbury 3-1 in Girls Soccer

Liv Boudreau (#3) defended by Erin Leary (#13) in the first half.

(Amesbury) Sometimes a soccer game turns on a goal, other times it turns on a save.

North Andover goalkeeper Megan Collins denied a great scoring opportunity by Amesbury’s Hannah Zannini early (three minutes) in the second half and the Lady Knights (4-2-1) followed with three unanswered goals to defeat the Indians (3-1-1), 3-1, at Cashman Elementary School in Amesbury.

Hannah Zannini gets off a 2nd half shot as her teammates watch from the sidelines.

If Hannah’s hard shot doesn’t deflect off Megan’s hands AND the goal post, the Indians go up 2-0 and the outcome might have been different.

But the shot stayed out and five minutes later Amesbury goalie Sarah Abraham gave up a rebound in front to Pam Coufos and she tied the score, 1-1.

The visitors took the lead for good ten minutes later when a Alex Medlock cross from the right side found Jess Carney with an open look on the left side for the go-ahead, and what turned out to be, game winner.

North Andover’s final goal was set up on a pass from Tori Sullivan into the middle where Caroline Kirby had time and a clear view of the AHS goal.

Pam Coufos (#2) scored the Lady Knights first goal.

The lone Amesbury goal was by Hannah Zannini at the 28-minute mark of the first half. Erin Leary sent Hannah on a long run down the middle of the field. Hannah got off a strong right-footed shot that beat the NA goalie in the upper right corner of the goal.

Whitney Whitlow (CAL All-League) hurt an ankle in the first half and played sparingly thereafter. She had twelve goals and six assists in 2010.

Megan Cullen (CAL All-League) damaged her knee in the summer and is out for the season. She had thirteen goals and nine assists in 2010.

Let’s just say that Amesbury had some weapons missing on offense.

But the Amesbury defense was together and they were tested by the quickness and persistence of CAL All-Leaguers Liv Boudreau and Pam Coufos among others. NA ended up with eleven shots by my calculations. Amesbury had only allowed one goal through their first four games.

The two best players on the field may well have been NA defenders Rachel Barnes (CAL All-League) and Taylor Tagliente (CAL All-Star). Rachel kept Indian threats out of the middle. Taylor went down heavily early on but shook it off and covered a lot of ground for the Indians. Taylor played every minute of every Amesbury game last year.

Audrey Samuelman (#9) and Rachel Barnes (back turned) defend in front of the North Andover net.

Amesbury’s next game is against Hamilton-Wenham on Thursday at home.

North Andover’s next game is home versus Pentucket.

The field was in fine condition. The only problem was that the sun was a real factor down one end. As luck would have it, I chose to stay at the other end and naturally all four goals were scored down the sunny end.

(I take my own pictures and collect my own stats. My goal is to be accurate and fair.)

The pictures assume normal size if you click on them.