SOUTH HAMILTON — The Hamilton-Wenham girls hoop team came into Thursday evening’s clash with Manchester Essex looking for revenge against a Hornets’ team that beat them earlier in the season.
The hosts accomplished just that, pulling away for a 49-38 victory in front of their home crowd.
Asa Labell and Mia Lougee stepped up huge for the Generals in the win, combining for five 3-pointers on the night. Margot Bryce-Morris led the way overall, dropping 18 points including a pair of big buckets in crunch time to put the game away in the fourth quarter and seal the win.
“We struggled a little bit on offense to get anything going,” said Manchester Essex head coach Lauren DuBois, her team having beaten H-W by over 20 points back in late December.
“They’re a good team. They play tough defense, they’re physical and big, and so we were just trying to move the ball around their zone.”
Despite the loss, the Hornets effort was there throughout. After a sluggish third quarter offensively (they scored just two points in those eight minutes), they cut the deficit to just five in the fourth, led by a pair of Lily Oliver triples in her 12-point effort.
Harper Brooks was in attack mode all night, too, making a living at the free throw line with eight of her 14 points coming at the charity stripe.
“We got some good opportunities and just couldn’t connect,” added DuBois. “I thought we had some really good moments out there. We did OK on the defensive end for the most part.”
Hamilton-Wenham looked like a team determined to get the win from the opening tip, however, and after Manchester Essex seized a narrow two-point lead in the first quarter, it was all Generals from there.
“I thought our defense was tremendous tonight,” said Generals coach Mark Cole, his team now over .500 at 6-5. “We held them to 20 in the first half (and) two points in the third quarter. Our offense is starting to click, which is nice to see, but our defense was definitely the strong point tonight to hold them down.”
After a loss early in the season, the Generals were able to get a win against their rivals to tie the season series.
“We have a nice rivalry with Manchester Essex and it seems like we always beat them here and they beat us up there,” added Cole. “It’s good to get a win against them.”
Brooks and Oliver were the lone Hornets to reach double figures in the scoring column, but Penelope Riggs, Anna Gardner, Ema Mustafa and Hadley Johnson did all find the score sheet. Their defense came through for much of the night, but the 38 points offensively was their third lowest output this season.
Hamilton-Wenham 49, Manchester Essex 38
at Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School
Manchester Essex;8;14;2;16;38
Hamilton-Wenham;6;14;14;13;49
Individual statistics
Manchester Essex (3-5) — Harper Brooks 3-8-14, Lily Oliver 4-1-12, Penelope Riggs 2-0-5, Anna Gardner 2-0-4, Ema Mustafa 1-0-2, Hadley Johnson 0-1-1, Emerald Jakes 0-0-0. Totals: 12-9-38.
Hamilton-Wenham (6-5) — Margot Bryce-Morris 7-4-18, Mia Lougee 3-0-9, Asa Labell 3-0-8, Grace Harres 2-1-5, Gabriella Jewitt 2-0-4, Lilly Giovannucci 0-3-3, Addie Olsen 0-2-2. Totals: 17-10-49.
Halftime: HW, 22-20
3-Pointers: ME, Oliver 3, Riggs 1; HW, Labell 2, Lougee 3.