NEWBURYPORT — The No. 11 seed Classical girls basketball team brought high energy from start to finish in the first round of the Division 2 North state tournament but in the end a tough No. 6 Newburyport team was too much to handle in a 66-36 loss on the road Tuesday night.
“I liked our intensity, our focus, our execution and our effort,” Classical coach Tom Sawyer said. “It wasn’t just in the first half either. I liked our effort all night long.”
The Rams kept up with the Clippers stride for stride in a tight first quarter, but soon after Newburyport’s big forwards started to take over the game and the Clippers never looked back.
“They have two six footers and we don’t have any,” Sawyer said. “That’s hard to compete with. But our kids battled and worked. I couldn’t be any prouder of them.”
Jean Gupton-Morrison led the way for the Rams with a team-high 10 points and six rebounds. Lauren Hennessy and Amber Crayton each had eight points and, despite the Clippers height advantage, Kiara Edmonds (five points) had a game-high seven rebounds.
The first quarter saw four lead changes, with a late push helping the Clippers narrowly edge out the Rams.
Hennessy got off to a hot start, getting to the hoop and converting an and one and knocking down a 3-pointer to keep things even at 6-6 early on.
Both teams traded baskets from there before Edmonds’ 3-pointer gave the Rams a brief 11-10 lead midway through the quarter. But that would prove to be Classical’s last lead of the night before the Clippers started to take over. Newburyport’s Deirdre McElhinney beat the buzzer with her 3-pointer to put the Clippers ahead 17-13 after one.
The Clippers quickly bumped their lead up to nine points to start the second and held onto it for the rest of the quarter. Classical kept pace with the Clippers thanks to some solid play from Gupton-Morrison and Crayton, but some key offensive rebounds and seven second-quarter points by Clippers forward Abigail Gillingham (game-high 11 points) kept Newburyport ahead. The Clippers led 32-22 at the half.
It didn’t take Newburyport long to put things away in the second half. Makenna Ward started off the half with five straight points and the Clippers never looked back, bumping their lead up to 20 points a few minutes later. Newburyport led 49-25 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was more of the same. Gupton-Morrison started the frame with a nice run of four straight points, but it was all Newburyport from there as the Rams season came to a close.
Classical finishes the season at 10-11 and graduates four seniors — Gupton-Morrison, Edmonds Crayton and Lindsey Valeri.
“We’re definitely going to miss Jean, Amber, Lindsey and Kiara,” Sawyer said. “They’ve all been with us a long time now and had great careers. I look forward to hearing about the great things they’re going to do in the future because they’re all really great people.”
Newburyport moves onto the quarterfinals and travels to No. 3 Saugus Friday (7).
