The Newburyport girls basketball team (11-6) ended its regular season home stand on a low note last night, as the North Andover Scarlet Knights started a crusade against the Clippers from tip-off and never let up, punching their own ticket into the state tournament in the process, 47-36.
"(North Andover was) more aggressive than us," said Clippers coach Gregg Dollas. "They created more fouls. They didn't reach, they stepped in the paint and played good defense."
The Knights started strong and kept rolling, holding Newburyport scoreless for the first six minutes of play. Michaela Mello (4 points) started the game with two points, followed by a 3-pointer from Julia Titone. Leah Chittick (12 points) nailed a pair of free throws. Then, the star of the night, Morgan Lumb (22 points), landed her first 3-pointer, followed by another two points to bring the Knights' tally to 12. Finally, Clipper Mary Pettigrew (4 points) got her team on the board, ultimately leaving the first quarter 15-8, Knights.
The second quarter saw some more life from Newburyport, who cut the Knights' lead to four points, courtesy of Lilly Donovan (6 points) and Cady Bennett (5 points). But Chittick led North Andover to a 26-16 spread at the half.
Lumb was brilliant in the second half, ushering her team to a 22-point lead at one point. The Clippers scrambled to keep up and eventually cut that lead to 10, but at that point, there was only two minutes left in the game, and the evening would usher the Knights into the state tournament.
"We finally have it," Knights' coach, Sue Breen said of her team qualifying for the state tournament with last night's win. "I finally have kids healthy, so they're playing well together and together at the right time."
"We try to play good defense, and I think our defense was good in the first three quarters," Breen said of her team's approach against the Clippers. "So, I think that upset their rhythm, and they missed some shots. So, when that happens, we get more confident, and they get less confident. So, I think it plays to our advantage. But they're such a good team, they'll do well in the tournament."
"I think they had a little determination to make sure this one didn't slip underneath them," Dollas said of the Knights. "They have a loss or so in their season they have regrets on, and they made sure they showed up on that. And we had tried, too, but their will in the beginning was a lot stronger than ours."
Dollas saw signs of improvement in the Clippers' performance as the game progressed.
"I think we finished stronger," said Dollas. "I got (Breen) to put her starters back in (in the fourth quarter), and I thought we did a much better job trying to finish this game strong to get ready for Pentucket on Monday."
After the Clippers play Pentucket on Monday, they head to Amesbury on Thursday and then to Marblehead on the following Wednesday. But Dollas doesn't seem concerned.
"We're fine with that," Dollas said of the upcoming stretch. "We just played Masco, Georgetown, North Andover, Pentucket, and people say (we're) on a losing streak. We're playing good teams. And that's what the girls can't get discouraged about. We can't get discouraged about that. We have three games left, we're still two weeks before the playoffs; I think we'll be fine."
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