The Triton girls basketball team has put its season-opening loss well into the rearview mirror.
After finding the win column against Amesbury last week, the Vikings made it two in a row Wednesday night after a 48-36 win over Manchester-Essex. Which is no small thing to scoff at, as the Hornets are the defending CAL Baker champions and are perennially a strong program.
But Kendall Liebert and the Vikings (2-1) got the job done.
Trailing 8-4 after the first quarter, Trton would score 17 points in both the second and third frames to break open the game. Leading the charge was the senior star Liebert, who scored 26 against Amesbury and followed with a 24-point performance Wednesday night. But she of course got plenty of help from her teammates, as Ashley Jones chipped in 6 points and Lily D’Andrea, Bella Basile and Lia Hatheway each added 5.
The Hornets were led by Lily Oliver with 11 points, Harper Brooks with 6 and Kasey O’Donnell with 5.
Pentucket boys hoop falls in Holiday Tournament
Farther south Wednesday night, the Pentucket boys basketball team was also competing in the 3rd annual Holiday Hoops Classic hosted by Lowell Catholic.
The Panthers were matched up with Shawsheen Tech in the opening round of the Small Division bracket, and unfortunately couldn’t advance to the title game after a 61-44 setback. Junior sharpshooter Dylan Scott knocked down a pair of 3s and led the Panthers with 12 points, Matt Pipan hit three 3s and finished with 11, and Trevor Cloutier drained two 3s and added 8.
Pentucket (0-3) will now play Hollis-Brookline out of New Hampshire in the Small Division consolation game on Friday at 1 p.m.
Mueller wicked smart, too!
A second local football athlete was also named to the prestigious NESCAC All-Academic Team this fall.
Newbury’s own Nick Mueller — who spent his high school playing career at Central Catholic — was a senior for Curry College football this year. The 6-foot-1, 265-pounder was the team’s starting center who played all nine games, and helped the Mules (3-6) earn wins over Bates, Wesleyan and Amherst.
After the season, Mueller was selected to both the 2023 NESCAC All-Academic Team, as well as the 2023 All-District Academic Team selected by College Sports Communicators. The CSC team only picks the top-50 players from over 900 NESCAC football athletes. Mueller is a Government major at Colby who is looking to get into the financial field after college, with dreams of also starting a career in coaching.
Big-Game Hunting
Should be a great one on Saturday when the Newburyport boys hockey team hosts Franklin at noon from the Graf. The Clippers (3-1-1) have always scheduled tough non-league games, and Franklin made it to the Division 1 Round of 16 a year ago.