AMESBURY — The arrow has been pointing up with the Amesbury girls basketball team this winter.
Look, it was never going to be easy to replace the senior-laden star power that led the program to the Division 4 State Championship during the 2021-22 season. It just wasn’t. Throw in a new coaching staff taking over after that title run — with all of that talent graduating out to the college ranks — and it didn’t come as a shock when the program’s four-year reign as CAL Baker champs came to an end last winter.
But even through a one-win 2022-23 season, there were positive signs.
And those have only expanded this year.
Like Monday night, for example, when Amesbury celebrated its Senior Night with a wire-to-wire victory over visiting Essex Tech, 40-30. There were a pair of instances late where the lead was cut to just one possession, but each time, either Cali Catarius, Ellie Marden or Ellison Talbot would come up with a huge bucket — or a steal — to help salt away the win.
“That was the first game in two years that we’ve led from start to finish,” said second-year coach Scott Brown. “They battled the whole time. Again it’s turnovers for us, sometimes instead of making the simple pass, we try to force it. But you can tell how hard they work.”
The Redhawks (4-10) have already quadrupled their win total from a season ago.
And before the game, the program received a $5,000 donation from its main sponsor, AutoFair, for the second year in a row. Dan Wood (AutoFair Suburu in Haverhill), Phil Gregoire (AutoFair Nisson in Strattam) and Andy Short (AutoFair Toyota in Tewksbury) were in attendance Monday night to present the check, which for the past two years has been used to upgrade training tools and resources for the team. Also, over the summer, Brown was able to work with New Balance founder Jim Davis to get new uniforms for both the Amesbury boys and girls squads at no cost.
With the school switching to the “Redhawks” nickname in late 2022, it was finally time for new jerseys.
Like was previously mentioned: The arrow is pointing up.
Certainly in more ways than one, and Amesbury is thrilled to have Marden back on the court. The junior point guard unfortunately broke her hand during the first game of the season, but returned late last week against Ipswich. After singing her renowned version of the National Anthem before the game, she would proceed to hit three 3s and finish with 11 points, with one of those 3s coming when Essex Tech had cut it to a 31-28 game with just over five minutes left.
Plus, her overall presence on the court as the team’s point guard and floor general has helped to raise everyone else’s game.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Brown. “She hit those crucial 3s for us. But we won one game last year, and we’ve won four so far this year. So we’re looking to keep it up and hoping to sneak into the tournament.”
Another reason to be excited is the youth on the roster.
Catarius and Izzy Levasseur are the two seniors on the team, and helped the Redhawks jump out to a 20-12 lead at halftime. But a freshman in Olivia Malburg got her first start on Monday and provided some strong minutes, while fellow freshmen Celia Tavares and Talbot have already been logging a lot of playing time all year. Tavares had a pair of baskets, while Talbot was everywhere with 14 points and 8 rebounds while shooting 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
And many of those were in crunch time late.
Essex Tech cut it to a 24-21 game late in the third, but Talbot made a free throw before draining a big 3. The Hawks would again get as close as 31-28 with 5:30 left, but Marden swished a step-back 3 followed by a Catarius steal and layup, and a Talbot strong and-1 drive and finish basically sealed it.
Amesbury, which came in just outside of the Div. 4 field at No. 37 in the latest rankings released last Friday morning, will look to make it two in a row when it hosts Georgetown on Thursday.
Amesbury 40, Essex Tech 30
Essex Tech (30): Adriana Lassus 0-0-0, Thais Dos Santos 4-2-10, Kennedy Moyle 1-0-2, Nicole Mwaura 3-1-9, Tenley Mugford 0-0-0, Janelle Dalton 2-0-5, Marissa Perez 1-0-2, Avery Barteaux 0-0-0, Mia Martinez 1-0-2. Totals 12-3-30
Amesbury (40): Olivia Malburg 0-0-0, Celia Tavares 2-0-4, Ellie Marden 4-0-11, Cali Catarius 4-0-8, Izzy Levasseur 1-1-3, Ellison Talbot 2-9-14, Sadie Bolth 0-0-0, Cadence Olbrot 0-0-0, Bailey Kimball 0-0-0. Totals 13-10-40
3-pointers: A — Marden 3; ET — Mwaura 2, Dalton
Essex Tech: 6 6 9 9 — 30
Amesbury (4-10): 11 9 9 11 — 40