Wednesday’s fourth North Shore Ski League girls meet of the year saw plenty of our local athletes finish near the top of the leaderboard.
For starters, Newburyport kept its strong season going with another perfect day on the slopes. The Clippers took down both Haverhill/Pentucket (77-58) and Manchester Essex (78-57) by nearly identical scores, and now for the winter sit with a stellar 6-1 record.
Senior Phoebe Whitcomb was the first Clipper down the Ski Bradford Hill in fourth overall (out of 88), finishing with a time of 22.73. Emily Chandler also placed inside of the top-10 for the Clippers in seventh (22.87), and behind her was Elsie DeGrano in 15th (23.20), Merideth Boelke in 23rd (23.74) and Louisa DeGrano in 26th (24.00).
But, again, they weren’t the only local skiers to have big days.
Pentucket junior Haylie Gagnon has placed 12th, second and fifth across the opening three meets of the year, and on Wednesday, kept it rolling with another fifth-place finish (22.77). Her Haverhill/Pentucket co-op team lost its opening match to the Clippers, and fell by an even closer margain against Masconomet, 75-60.
Then finally, Triton junior Gracelyn O’Neill skies for the Manchester Essex/Ipswich co-op team, and made the podium once again on Wednesday with a sixth-place finish (22.83). She’s been the team’s top finisher in all but one meet this year, and now has placings of 10th, 10th, fourth and sixth.
Newburyport boys basketball moves to 12-0
The “Big 3” may quickly be turning into a “Big 4” before our eyes.
When you talk about this year’s Newburyport boys basketball team, the trio of Cal Atherton (23.9 ppg, 24 3s), Zayd Leanna (17.9 ppg, 22 3s) and Ben Cormier (14.2 ppg, 24 3s) have been dominant from the opening practice. A fact that prove true once again on Wednesday night, when 19 points from Atherton, 17 from Leanna and 13 from Cormier led the Clippers to a 62-51 road win over at North Reading. What more, Atherton and Leanna combined for all 16 fourth quarter points for the still-undefeated Clippers (12-0), who are ranked No. 10 in Division 2.
But here comes Tyler Lisauskas.
The sophomore scored 13 points during the team’s win over Lynnfield late last week, and followed with 8 more points against the Hornets to increase his season-long scoring average to 6.3 ppg. The Clippers now will host Rockport on Friday night.
Pentucket hockey back on track
Yeah, this one was much needed.
Having lost three in a row and dropping to No. 17 in the latest Division 4 power rankings, the Pentucket hockey team had to right the ship if they wanted to get back in a position to host a playoff game. Something that the Panthers were thankfully able to do on Wednesday night, welcoming in Lynn English and skating to a 5-0 victory behind a shutout performance in net from goalie Josh Yoon.
Mac Cole, John Racki, Reece King, Chase Pelletier and the Panthers have now averaged 3.8 goals over their last five games, and will look to keep that offensive output going at North Reading on Saturday afternoon.
TRITON BASKETBALL: Vikings swept by Lynnfield
It was a tough Wednesday night for both Triton basketball teams.
The girls welcomed in a solid Lynnfield squad, and nearly pulled it off before falling in a close one, 50-46. Lily D’Andrea led the way with 14 points for the Vikings (3-11), Mia Dupuis hit four 3s and had 13 points, and both Ava Johnson and Bella Burrell chipped in 6 points.
Meanwhile for the boys, the Vikings couldn’t keep up on the road in a 72-46 loss to the talented Pioneers. Both Sebastian Garcia and Noah Bernier were in double figures with 10 points for the visitors, who will next play Hamilton-Wenham on Friday night.
Rodrigues drops 21, but Amesbury girls lose
We’re getting close to the end of the regular season, and the Amesbury girls basketball team still only has four losses.
Unfortunately, half of them are to one team.
The Redhawks are still a young group at the end of the day, starting a junior, two sophomores and two freshmen. Something that a veteran Manchester Essex team has taken advantage of twice now, completing the season sweep with a 60-46 home victory over the Redhawks on Wednesday night.
For the visitors, leading the way was one of those freshman in Maddy Rodrigues, who hit two 3s and had 21 points. Both Olivia McKay and Haley Dube chipped in 9 points for the Redhawks (11-4), who are currently ranked No. 12 in the latest Division 4 power poll.
“Every time we got it down to three or six points, we had unforced errors that turned things around for them,” said Amesbury coach Scott Brown. “M-E simply outhustled us. They’re very well-coached, and I’m sure we’ll see them again in the playoffs. Our youth was definitely evident tonight, but I’m still very proud of the team and looking forward to the remainder of the season.”