The current winning streak wasn’t coming to an end for the Newburyport girls basketball team on Monday.
Brooke Lawton (6 pts) and Ava Bailey (12 pts) got the team out of the gates hot, and Morgan Rouba (10 pts) took over in the second half as the Clippers won their seventh straight game with a 50-27 blowout of Manchester Essex. Clara Thompson (8 pts) and Kenzie Byrnes (5 pts) also had great games for the surging Clippers (9-3), who bumped up in the latest Division 2 rankings to No. 19.
And now Friday night, the Clippers will look to make it eight in a row when they host Lynnfield.
Georgetown and Triton basketball split games
It was a battle between Georgetown and Triton on the hardwood on Monday, and each school was able to come away from the day happy.
In the girls game between the two programs, it was the Vikings pulling away during the middle quarters to earn the 52-39 win. Trailing by eight after the first quarter, the Vikings would outscore the Royals by a combined 37-13 over the next two frames to take full command of the game.
A much-needed victory for Triton (2-9), which is trying to pull itself back into the Division 3 playoff picture after coming in at No. 45 in the latest rankings update. Mia Dupuis led the Vikings with 18 points during the win, Lily D’Andrea was right behind her with 12 points, Bella Burrell hit two 3s and had 8 points, and both Ava Johnson and Addison Ewell chipped in 6 points. Then for the Royals (3-7) — who are currently right on the bubble at No. 33 in Division 4 — Victoria Barbarick had 19 points while Brylee Hodges was also in double figures with 11 points.
Meanwhile in the boys game, Georgetown rolled to a 91-35 win over Triton.
The Royals (7-4) currently find themselves ranked No. 9 in Division 4, and were able to get everyone plenty of playing time during this latest win. Brendan Loewen led the way with 26 points and 5 assists, Irvin Zapata had 12 points and 9 rebounds, and Tony Tavares was also in double figures with 10 points. Up next, the Royals have a huge one when they welcome in archrival Manchester Essex (ranked No. 13 in D4) on Wednesday night.
Then for Triton (0-11), Noah Bernier had 9 points while both Cam McDonald and Mateus Pinto were right behind him with 8 points.
No. 2 Canton skates past Newburyport
You only get better by playing the best.
That was the case for the Newburyport boys hockey team on Monday, which traveled down to the Cape for their annual game against state superpower Canton. The Clippers hung in there against the four-time state champions and last year’s Division 2 runner-up as long as they could, but couldn’t keep pace in what ended up being a 10-2 loss.
The Bulldogs (10-1-0) are currently ranked No. 2 in Div. 2, and have now scored 62 goals across their 11 games.
Meanwhile, Luke MacIsaac, Henry Waddell and Newburyport (6-5-1) find themselves at No. 20 in the latest rankings. The Clippers have this work week off before traveling over to Pentucket on Saturday evening.
Small skid for Amesbury hockey
Scoring goals hasn’t been the issue for the Amesbury hockey team as of late.
Following Monday morning’s game down at Silver Lake Regional, Lincoln Kime, Evan Murphy, Wes Ackerman and the Redhawks have now found the back of the net a combined 10 times over their last three times out. But they’ve also found themselves on the wrong side of the final scoreboard in each of those games, with a 6-4 loss to Silver Lake being the latest setback in now a three-game skid.
Regardless, Amesbury (7-6-0) is still in position to make the Division 2 playoffs, coming in at No. 23 in the latest rankings that were released on Tuesday morning. The Redhawks will look to get back on track on Saturday when they host Essex Tech.
Pentucket hockey can’t keep up with St. Bernard’s
It was a high-scoring contest over at the Wallace Civic Center on Monday afternoon, but the Pentucket hockey team couldn’t keep up with host St. Bernard’s in a 6-3 loss. Mac Cole, Chase Pelletier, Reese King and the Panthers (5-6-1) are still well inside of the Division 4 playoff field at No. 12, and will look to put the setback behind them quickly when they travel over to Bedford on Wednesday.