Facing a zone defense from Blue Hills in Friday’s Division 4 Round of 32 contest, the jump shots were there for the taking for the Manchester Essex girls basketball team.
The Hornets took those shots, and made those shots with confidence on Friday night knocking down 11 three-pointers while turning in a dominant performance on the defensive end of the floor in a 62-29 blowout.
“We knew facing a zone we were going to get the looks,” Manchester Essex head coach Lauren Dubois said. “We’ve been putting in the work to get ready for this game for two weeks and we executed the way we wanted to.”
The 13th-seeded Hornets move to 16-5 with the win and advance to the Division 4 Round of 16 against No. 4 Notre Dame Worcester (17-4) on Tuesday at St. John’s Shrewsbury (6 p.m.).
It was all Manchester Essex from the opening tip in the Round of 32 as the 13-seed overwhelmed the visiting No. 20 seed, which falls to 18-3 with the loss.
The Hornets forced an abundance of turnovers which led to baskets in transition and an 18-6 lead after one. Their full-court pressure defense put the game away in the second frame, outscoring the Warriors 21-2 to roll to a 39-8 lead at halftime.
“We got momentum going in our favor with tough, full-court defense,” Dubois said. “We were able to push the pace and we knocked down our shots which helped.”
Manchester Essex led by as much as 39 points (51-12) in the second half before emptying the bench at the end of the third quarter.
The Hornets spread the ball around offensively as they usually do with Kacey O’Connell’s 12 points leading the way. Mechi O’Neil had 11 and dropped three three-pointers while Kendall Newton had 10. Harper Brooks (eight points) and Tess Carpenter (six points) knocked down a pair of three pointers while Mackay Brooks led the team with eight rebounds.
Division 4 Round of 32
No. 13 Manchester Essex 62, No. 20 Blue Hills 29.
at Manchester Essex High School
Blue Hills 6;2;8;13 |29
Manchester Essex 18;21;14;9 |62
BH: Ally Johnson 2-0-6, Kathleen Murphy 3-0-6, Bridget Devine 3-0-6, Isabella Suffaro 2-1-5, Lizbeth Torres 1-0-3, Emily Lehane 1-0-2, Keira McMartin 0-1-1.
ME: Kacey O’Connell 5-1-12, Mechi O’Neil 4-0-11, Kendall Newton 3-2-10, Harper Brooks 3-0-8, Tess Carpenter 2-0-6, Isabelle Donnellan Valde 2-0-5, Calista Lai 2-0-4, Mackay Brooks 2-0-4, Anna Gardner 1-0-2.
3-Pointers: BH, Torres; ME, O’Neil 3, Newton 2, H. Brooks 2, Carpenter 2, Donnellan Vade, O’Connell.
Halftime: 39-8 ME.
Records: BH, 18-3; ME, 16-5.