You could sense the desperation and the fight.
It’s been a long three-year playoff drought for the Amesbury boys, who would like to see a still-accomplished senior class get a taste of postseason hoops before they graduate out. The Division 4 rankings haven’t been too kind to the Redhawks so far this season, but three straight victories over Notre Dame Cristo Rey, Rockport and Whittier Tech saw them jump up to No. 35 — just out of the projected field — when the latest update dropped on Tuesday morning.
And a win over Newburyport a few hours later would have been huge.
Which, as it turned out, nearly happened.
Newburyport got all it could handle from a scrappy team, but in the end got 22 points from Cal Atherton and 20 from Tyler Lisauskas to hold on for the 64-58 win over Amesbury. Zayd Leanna was also in double figures with 11 points for the eight time CAL Kinney-winning Clippers (16-0), who remain undefeated heading into Thursday’s showdown at Georgetown.
But make no mistake, it was a great effort from Amesbury (7-10).
Chase Linsey led the team in scoring, and played all 32 minutes along with the rest of the starting lineup of Justin Dube, Joe Celia, Parker DeLong and Ollie Peters. The loss stings, but there are still multiple paths for the Redhawks to make the playoffs. They could still hop inside of the top-32 with a strong end to the year, or automatically qualify by winning their last three games to finish at .500.
The remaining schedule:
Thursday (2/12): vs. Lynnfield (13-4, No. 23 in D3).
Sunday (2/15): vs. Whittier Tech (1-16, No. 71 in D3).
Monday (2/16): vs. Stoneham (11-7, No. 22 in D3).
Can the Redhawks do it?
Bailey’s big night lifts Newburyport girls over Amesbury
Ava Bailey of course heard the hype surrounding an exciting, young and rejuvenated Amesbury girls program ahead of the their game on Tuesday night.
But she was eager to remind everybody that this “River Rivalry” still runs through Newburyport.
The Daily News All-Star junior was simply unstoppable in filling the entire stat sheet, finishing with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, 5 blocks and 5 assists to lead the Clippers to a 62-48 road win over the Redhawks. Clara Thompson poured in a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and both Morgan Rouba (12 pts) and Alexandra Yavarow were credited with having “great games” for the Clippers (13-4), according to coach Tim Mahan.
On the other sideline, it was still a great effort from Amesbury (13-6).
Sophomore guard Olivia McKay led the Redhawks with 17 points, which included going an impressive 11-for-12 from the free throw line. The freshmen duo of Maddy Rodrigues (16 pts) and Haley Dube (8 pts) also played well against a veteran team, fellow freshman Charlotte Kime made her first varsity start, and sophomore Delaney Sargent added 6 points.
“I was very, very proud of the girls,” said Amesbury coach Scott Brown. “(Newburyport) is definitely peaking at the right time, and will go a long way in the Division 2 tournament. As a Division 4 team it’s always an uphill battle, but as I said, very proud of the girls.”
GEORGETOWN: Loewen’s charge, Zapata’s FTs clinch 10th straight win for boys
Well, the stage is now set.
It wasn’t always pretty throughout the game, but the Georgetown boys took care of business on Tuesday night by beating North Reading, 60-57, for the team’s 10th straight win. Up by a point, Brendan Loewen took a charge with 7.9 seconds left to give the Royals possession back, then dished a great pass to Irvin Zapata to break the press. The fellow senior captain was fouled, and calmly knocked down both free throws to ultimately ice the game.
“A great win against a very well-coached, tough North Reading team,” said coach Kevin Fair, his team now 14-4.
And now, it’s all set up for the CAL Baker-champion Royals to welcome in an undefeated, CAL Kinney-champion Newburyport team (16-0) on Thursday night.
A battle for league supremecy this year.
But wrapping up Tuesday’s game first, Rayner Hernandez had a career night with 20 points, and Meziah Rodriguez was also in double figures with 12. The Royals jumped up to No. 3 in the latest Division 4 power rankings, and have two great opportunites against Division 2 opponents coming up between the Clippers (No. 9) tonight and Masconomet (No. 4, 15-1) next Thursday.
PENTUCKET: Walsh, Dancewicz lead girls to easy win
The scoreboard at the end of the first quarter pretty much told you everything on how the rest of the night would go.
Pentucket: 16. Hamilton-Wenham: 0.
A lead that was built on getting the ball into the paint, with starting forwards Devyn Walsh and Chloe Dancewicz combining for half of those points. The Panthers could essentially get everyone plenty of playing time the rest of the way, ultimately cruising to the 49-19 win over the Generals. It was the sixth straight victory for the Panthers (15-3), who have now won 11 of thier last 12.
Walsh would finish with a team-high 12 points, while Dancewicz was also in double figures with 10. Sofia Bellacqua would add 9 points while Amelia Crowe chipped in 7 for the Panthers, who play Essex Tech on Thursday followed by Oliver Ames in the St. Mary’s Spartans Classic on Sunday.
Moving over, the Pentucket boys dropped a tough one at home to Hamilton-Wenham on Tuesday night, falling 62-44. Michael Torrisi, Gavin Jalbert, Damon Holbrook and the Panthers (4-14) have two games left, and will try to earn another win at Ipswich on Thursday.
TRITON: Boys and girls split with Ipswich
There’s no stumbling to the finish line for either Triton team this year.
In fact, the exact opposite.
Before the season comes to a close at the end of this week, the girls made sure to pick up another win. The Vikings braved the elements traveling over to Ipswich on Tuesday night, and got 18 points from Mia Dupuis and 17 points from fellow senior Lily D’Andrea to earn the 52-27 victory.
The Vikings (4-15) will now finish up their season on Thursday night hosting Manchester Essex.
Meanwhile, the boys showed grit until the final buzzer.
After picking up their second victory of the year just 24 hours earlier, the Vikings couldn’t make it two in a row following a 62-49 loss to Ipswich on Tuesday. But facing a 25-point deficit after three quarters, Camden Moriarty (14 pts), Mateus Pinto (10 pts) and Jack Roy (9 pts) helped to cut it to a 13-point final while the Tigers left their starters in.
The Vikings (2-17) will wrap up on the road at Manchester Essex on Thursday.