One up, one down for the Rockport and Manchester Essex girls basketball teams.
Each hosting preliminary round matchups on Tuesday night to open their respective state tournament journeys, the Vikings and Hornets rolled to advance to the Round of 32.
In Division 5 action in Rockport, head coach Jordan Fears’ group cruised to a 55-26 win over Abby Kelley Foster Regional Charter School. Senior captain Allie George was dominant throughout, finishing with a game-high 26 points.
“Allie was a force all over,” said Fears, her team now 14-7 and moving on to take on No. 10 Narragansett Regional on Thursday at 6 p.m. “The girls were really excited to play a home game in the tournament so the energy never went away. Now they are focused on Thursday.”
While George stole the show offensively, she got plenty of help on both ends in what was a complete team performance. Both Sunny Gallagher (15 points including two threes), a freshman, and Sadie Mierz did a solid job with the press defense, and it helped their offense flow, too.
“Our girls moved the ball really well tonight and were finding the gaps in their defense,” added Fears. “The girls have been working really hard on improving their offense and working together as a team and it showed.”
Maggie Reed added eight points for the Vikings in the win.
As for Manchester, it was an equally impressive outing to kick things off in Division 4 play.
Seeded No. 20 in the bracket, the Hornets welcomed No. 45 Sturgis Charter School West and established themselves early and often en route to a convincing 59-15 triumph.
Head coach Lauren DuBois’ group led 12-2 after one and 26-6 at the half, cruising to the finish line from there to earn the right to take on No. 13 Frontier Regional on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the next round.
A total of 10 different Hornets found the scoresheet in the big win, with Lily Oliver continuing her strong play by dropping a game-high 20 points including five 3-pointers. Ella Arntsen added nine points with a triple while Kacey O’Connell, Emerald Jakes, Ema Mustafa, Tori Moulton, Tess Carpenter, Penelope Riggs, Cardelia Riggs and Charlotte Donnellan Valade all had at least one basket.