AMESBURY — It was almost a doomsday scenario for Triton girls basketball, and the season hadn’t even started yet.
For the past two winters, the Vikings have leaned on Kendall Liebert as the team’s leading scorer. She broke out on the Cape Ann League scene two years ago as a sophomore when she averaged 13.4 points per game, then last year she was right there again at 12.1 ppg. So heading into her final run, her senior year, you figured she could very well make a push at league MVP.
Eh, maybe not so fast?
During a practice last week, Liebert went down with a leg injury, and the team initially feared the worst. When first-year Triton coach Gregg Dollas reported the Vikings’ season-opening score (a 50-26 loss to North Reading), Liebert’s name was nowhere to be found.
But Tuesday night, Liebert was back in a big way.
The brace on her right leg may have been a little sturdier than it was when she was dominating on the volleyball court this fall, but the production didn’t change. It was still the same old Kendall out there on the court, which is an excellent sign for Triton as it turns its sights to the rest of the 2023-24 season to come.
Liebert couldn’t be stopped, and scored from wherever she wanted to lead Triton to a 52-28 win over Amesbury. The senior finished with a game-high 26 points while also grabbing a team-high 7 rebounds, and defensively altered a countless number of Amesbury shots on drives to the basket.
“I took off a couple of practices and a game, and luckily it wasn’t too bad of an injury,” said Liebert, who is still weighing her options between her two top sports at the next level. “So I got cleared and I’m back into it. I was a little timid on it today, but honestly, I would do anything to play.”
And with Liebert on the court, Triton (1-1) is a different team. “She’s a pretty important player,” said Dollas. “She’s one of the top players in the league right now, so we need her. You saw what she did tonight, drawing defense and allowing us to get some open shots. She got Lia (Hatheway) some open shots and Lia can shoot. and Kendall is the base of our defense, too. She always gives good help.
“So it was big to have her back, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
Of course, the other big story in this one was Dollas facing Amesbury.
A longtime coach in the CAL, Dollas’ last stint was with the Redhawks for four seasons. During his tenure, he helped to lead the program to four straight CAL Baker titles, as well as the Division 4 State Championship in 2021-22 before stepping down after the season.
But after a year off, Dollas is back on the sidelines in what is a full-circle moment for him. After graduating college in 1998, Dollas started coaching 5th/6th-grade girls in the Triton Youth Program. He would then work his way up to being a varsity assistant before taking over the Newburyport girls varsity job in 2010.
And Tuesday night, maybe of the girls he coached for years were now on the opposite sideline wearing Amesbury red.
“I was pretty anxious for this one just in general,” said Dollas. “(Amesbury) is a good team, they’ve got two solid freshmen who are really good. So our older girls, I thought Reese (Renda) did a great job on the point and Bella (Basile) too, so we held our own today.”
With Liebert leading the way with 8 points and 3 rebounds in the first quarter, Triton was able to race out to a 17-5 advantage. She would head into halftime with 15 points, and another 3-pointer from Renda and five points from Hatheway helped the Redhawks build up a comfortable 31-14 lead at the break.
For Amesbury (1-1), which has already matched its win total from a season ago, it was freshman Celia Tavares leading the way with 11 points. The Redhawks were unfortunately playing without junior point guard Ellie Marden, who injured her hand in the last game and may miss some significant time (but still sang a phenomenal National Anthem). But in her place, another freshman in Ellison Talbot stepped up and played a strong game while hitting a 3.
Amesbury then also had a pair of stalwarts in Izzy Levasseur (7 pts, 7 rebs) and Sadie Bolth (5 pts, 8 rebs) have solid games.
Triton 52, Amesbury 28
Triton (52): Kendall Liebert 9-7-26, Reese Renda 2-0-5, Margaret Welch 2-0-4, Sophia Lesinski 0-0-0, Isabella Basile 0-1-1, Lia Hatheway 2-0-5, Lily D’Andrea 1-2-4, Ava Johnson 1-1-3, Ashley Jones 1-0-2, Riley McDonald 1-0-2. Totals 19-11-52
Amesbury (29): Sadie Bolth 1-3-5, Izzy Levasseur 3-1-7, Ellison Talbot 1-0-3, Cali Catarius 1-0-2, Celia Tavares 3-5-11, Cadence Olbrot 0-0-0, Bailey Kimball 0-0-0. Totals 9-9-28
3-pointers: T — Liebert, Renda, Hatheway; A — Talbot
Triton (1-1): 17 14 14 7 — 52
Amesbury (1-1): 5 9 3 11 — 29