It certainly was an interesting last few days for the Pentucket girls.
With all of the craziness happening at the high school — with the fire shutting everything down for a couple of days — the Panthers were forced to have a pair of makeshift practices outside of their own gym. What more, a looming trip up to a solid Manchester Essex team on Tuesday night had the potential to give the Panthers some problems with everything that was going on.
But faced with a little mid-season adversity, the Panthers handled it perfectly.
Amelia Crowe made three 3s and led the way with a game-high 23 points, and Pentucket went on the road and earned a rather commanding win over the Hornets, 61-35. The victory was the ninth in a row for the Panthers (12-2), who need every single one in their attempt to get out of the 8-9 spot in the upcoming Division 3 state tournament (currently No. 8).
Chloe Dancewicz had another strong game with 11 points, and both Allie Gagnon and Devyn Walsh chipped in 6 points.
AMESBURY: Marden paces girls, while boys win blowout
A big story of this year’s Amesbury girls basketball team is its youth.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game, five of the team’s top-7 scorers were juniors or younger, and it’s top-2 — Olivia McKay and Ellison Talbot — are a freshman and a sophomore. Throw in sophomore Celia Tavares and freshmen Delaney Sargent and Shelby Massey, who are all part of the rotation this year, and you can see why there’s so much promise for both today and the future.
But sometimes, you still need the veterans to lead the way.
Senior captain Ellie Marden “played out of her mind,” according to coach Scott Brown, and poured in a game-high 16 points to lift Amesbury over Essex Tech, 46-41. The Redhawks (8-6) were a combined 18-of-23 from the free throw line, with Marden herself making seven of them. McKay returned from a hard hit that took her out of the team’s previous game and finished with 11 points, and Talbot was also in double figures with 10 points.
Meanwhile on the boys side, Amesbury won by TKO.
Four athletes scored in double figures, and the Redhawks nearly doubled-up Essex Tech for the 85-46 victory. Parker DeLong led the way with 19 points, Trey Sullivan added 15 points on a pair of 3s, Justin Dube had 14 points and Connor Mazzaglia hit three triples and had 12 points.
It was a much-needed victory for Amesbury (6-7), which entered the game as the last team in the Division 4 field at No. 32 in the latest rankings.
NEWBURYPORT: Downey, Rouba stepping up scoring
We know that Olivia Foley is in the middle of a fantastic senior year for the Newburyport girls, averaging close to 13 points per game.
But for the Clippers to be their best, they need secondary scorers to pop up.
Both Clara Thompson and Ava Bailey have fit that role so far this season, but recently, two new names have started to emerge. Caitlin Downey and Morgan Rouba each hit two 3s and finished with 10 points on Tuesday night, leading Newburyport to a win over Hamilton-Wenham, 59-42.Foley also finished in double figures with 10 points for the Clippers (8-4), who have now won three in a row.
For the Newburyport boys, Tuesday ended up being tied for the team’s second-lowest scoring output of the season.
But, really, it didn’t matter all that much.
The Clippers still cruised to their 11th straight victory, locking down on defense to beat Hamilton-Wenham, 65-44. Sam Craig had one of his better games of the season, draining two 3s and pouring in a game-high 19 points. Cal Atherton added 16 points for the Clippers (13-1), Carson Gretz was right behind with 15 points on a pair of 3s, and Ben Corneau chipped in 7 points.
GEORGETOWN: Both boys and girls lose close to Lynnfield
This would have been a good win for the Georgetown boys.
Lynnfield is on the cusp of being a top-20 team in Division 3, and the Royals entered Tuesday night’s matchup with key players Marcos Yones, Brady Kent and Jack Duggan all out sick. But despite needing bench players to once again step into bigger roles, the Royals were just a couple of plays away from still getting the job done.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
Aleks Dimov again impressed with more minutes and had a game-high 14 points, but Georgetown dropped a tough one at home to the Pioneers, 56-53. Both Jomar Terrero and John Alcantara added 10 points for the Royals (7-5), and Jalen Andujar and Irvin Zapata each finished with 9 points.
For the Georgetown girls, Tuesday was a rough night at the office.
The Royals shot just 21 percent from the field, and still managed to somewhat kept it relatively close against a solid Pioneers squad before eventually falling, 43-34. Talya Mariani hit a 3 and led the Royals (7-6) with 12 points, Victoria Barbarick made two 3s and added 9 points, and Katie Davies chipped in 8 points.
TRITON: Tanona has career night
James Tanona won’t ever forget the night of January 28th, 2025.
The 6-foot-3 sophomore forward truly enjoyed his own breakout party, pouring in an impressive 27 points to lead Triton to a nice victory over Rockport, 62-53. Before Tuesday’s game, he had only scored 30 points total on the entire season.
And with the win, the Vikings (7-7) are now three victories away from qualifying for the Division 3 tournament via the .500 rule. Harrison Huynh hit two 3s and added 12 points, and Mateus Pinto was right behind with 11 points.