LYNN — There was hope that Newburyport would rekindle the magic.
That the Clippers would reignite the spark that saw the program pull off two of the biggest upsets in tournament history just last year. Heck, the majority of last year’s team is still on the roster, so why couldn’t they pull off a repeat of that magical run — when they miraculously reached the Division 3 Elite Eight as the tournament’s No. 27 seed?
But that wasn’t happening against St. Mary’s.
Not against that program.
A perennial powerhouse that recently won three straight state championships from 2020-23, St. Mary’s is loaded once again this year as the No. 1 overall seed in Division 3. And the Spartans continued to flex that muscle on Monday night, having little issue getting back to the quarterfinals after taking care of visiting No. 16 Newburyport, 73-39.
For the Clippers (15-7), another fine season comes to an end.
Which is tough for any program to deal with, especially when you’re losing the likes of seniors Olivia Foley, Maddie Hopwood, Caitlin Downey, Laney Schwab and Emerson McCormick. Foley in particular nearly scored 300 points this year, averaging 13.3 per game, and the others were either captains (Hopwood and Schwab) or key contributors.
But the cupboards certainly won’t be dry.
A major positive coming out of this season was the rise of what appears to be a pretty spectacular sophomore class. Ava Bailey (8.7 ppg, 19 3s), Clara Thompson (8.2 ppg) and Morgan Rouba (4.1 ppg) all either started or played big minutes by the end of the season, and junior Brooke Lawton — a Daily News Volleyball All-Star — will be another name to keep an eye on heading into next winter.
But as far as Monday was concerned, Newburyport knew the test at hand.
St. Mary’s (21-3) wasted no time setting the tone, building a double-digit lead after the first quarter that ballooned to 41-17 at halftime. Top scorer Bella Owumi (17.2 ppg) finished with “just” eight points, but that was more a cause of the Spartans feeding the post between Reese Matela (17 pts) and Chaleigh Green (13 pts).
True to form, though, Newburyport kept fighting, and nearly won the third quarter thanks to Foley (11 pts) finding her offensive touch after being held scoreless in the first half. Bailey also finished with 11 points, Rouba added 8 points and Thompson was right behind with 7 points.
St. Mary’s 73, Newburyport 39
Division 3 Round of 16
Newburyport (39): Brooke Lawton 0-0-0, Caitlin Downey 1-0-2, Maddie Hopwood 0-0-0, Morgan Rouba 4-0-8, Christina Corneau 0-0-0, Olivia Raimo 0-0-0, Laney Schwab 0-1-1, Clara Thompson 3-0-7, Ava Bailey 2-5-11, Olivia Foley 5-1-11, Alex Yavarow 0-0-0, Piper Herndon 0-0-0. Totals 15-7-39
St. Mary’s (73): Jaylin Frye 1-0-3, Sophia Lafontant 1-0-2, Sysy M. Emmanuel 3-0-7, Jillian Roberts 3-2-8, Bella Owumi 4-0-8, Janae Holmes 2-0-4, Juliana Conte 3-0-9, Lily Norton 1-0-2, Reese Matela 8-1-17, Chaleigh Green 6-0-13. Totals 32-3-73
3-pointers: SM — Conte 3, Frye, Emmanuel, Green; N — Thompson, Bailey
Newburyport (15-7): 11 6 15 7 — 39
St. Mary’s (21-3): 22 19 19 13 — 73