NEWBURYPORT — The Newburyport girls basketball team knew Masconomet was a tough opponent that was coming into their house last night.
The Clippers (11-4) didn't know that the Chieftains (11-2) would be carried on the back of Brooke Stewart (26 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals), who took it to the Clippers almost all by herself, downing the Newburyport soundly, 60-49.
"Brooke Stewart won that game," said Clippers coach Gregg Dollas. "That's all it was. Brooke Stewart had a good game. We were in her face, I thought we were in front of her. I thought Lilly (Donovan) did a great job of staying in front of her, fighting through all the screens they were setting on her, stuff like that. (Stewart) just knocked down her shots."
The Chieftains had control of the ball from the get-go when Chelsea Nason nailed a 3-pointer just a minute into the game to get Masco on the board. The Clippers kept pace for the next minute, then Stewart checked in with her first 3-pointer of the game to bring things to 8-4. Masco continued to keep control going into the second quarter, 18-13, just after Clipper Molly Rowe nailed a three of her own.
Rowe managed to tie things up in the top half of the second quarter, 18-18. But Danielle Davis knocked in a three of her own, followed by two points at the line, then Stewart piled on three more points for a 26-18 tally. The Chieftains kept the heat going again, going into the half 31-25.
Clipper Donovan and Chieftain Stewart flat out owned the third quarter, raking up nine points a piece in furious back and forth action that saw the most life the Clippers would show all night. But the Chieftains still kept the lead, 44-39.
The fourth quarter saw Masco running away with things. To make things worse for Newburyport, shooting guard Rowe came out of the game with an undisclosed injury as Masco led by six points or more for the rest of the night.
"They didn't go away," Chieftains coach Bob Romeo said of the Clippers. "Some foul trouble slowed us down. But fortunately Brooke stepped up. We know they're a good team. This is never an easy place to come and play. They're just competitive; they play hard. They're good athletes. I thought it was a very good high school basketball game."
Romeo was very happy about Stewart's play for the night.
"I subbed her out a little bit, but from that moment forward, she took the game over," said Romeo. "I thought on both ends of the floor, offense, defense, she did everything. She was the player of the year tonight."
Dollas found some light at the end of the tunnel, but now has to deal with the possible injury to Rowe.
"I thought that we did well offensively," said Dollas. "And we just needed to move the ball a little extra getting to our post. Mary (Pettigrew) and Lilly were on fire for a while. Then we went away from that and we have to work on that."
"They came at us from the get-go," said Dollas. "But I thought we held our own the whole time. We didn't give up and we didn't give in. We just have to get ready for Georgetown Tuesday and North Andover on Friday."
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