LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield girls basketball team held a 20-16 lead at halftime against visiting Newburyport, but the Clippers turned the tables in the second half to coast to a 43-32 win Monday night.
Sophomore Hayden Valiton scored a game-high 18 points, 13 of them through the first three quarters to help keep the Pioneers in the game, but Newburyport’s decided edge in rebounding at both ends of the court and too many turnovers on the part of the Pioneers was too much for them to overcome. Simply put, it’s never an easy task when you score only four points in a single quarter, which is what the Pioneers did in the third quarter.
“We couldn’t buy a basket,” Lynnfield head coach Sue Breen said. “They (Newburyport) are good athletes. They are bigger, stronger, but I am proud of how we played. We needed to keep going and cut down a few turnovers and we needed a couple of the younger kids to make a few baskets to calm everybody down. But when you miss, everyone misses.”
Newburyport head coach Karen Grutchfield said the third-quarter run “really helped.
‘We were slow starting in the first half, which we can’t afford to do,” she said. “Lynnfield played very tough and was very aggressive and well coached. When we went into a 1-2-2, they struggled with our pressure and trapping at mid-court, and then we played an aggressive 2-3 and that was the difference. And we had Laney Schwab (5 points), Olivia Foley (13 points), and Clara Thompson (10 points) being super aggressive on the boards, which really helped.”
The game was back-and-forth in the first half with neither team leading by more than four and, despite the sub-par third quarter, the Pioneers still trailed by just two, 26-24 with eight minutes to go.
But the Clippers used a decided edge off the boards at both ends of the court and capitalized on a slew of Pioneer turnovers to put together a 14-0 run in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to open up a 38-24 lead. Valiton temporarily stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws with little more than three minutes left in the game, but the Clippers got back to business, opening up its largest lead of the game at 43-27 with about a minute to go.
The Pioneers fought back, with a three-pointer from Maeve Wertz and a steal and coast-to-coast layup from Valiton, but it was too little too late.
Wertz spent a good amount of time with foul trouble, which Breen said didn’t help.
“It was tough not having her. We needed her but she got the two fouls and then a third right away, so that was tough,” Breen said.
Breen said sophomore Faith Angelo (2 points, 2 blocks) and senior captain Taylor Valiton (4 points) played well.
“I thought Faith had a very good game,” Breen said. “She had some nice passes and her defense was good. She was so steady that allowed Taylor Valiton to get a few minutes of a break because they were big. Taylor is always so steady as well. She plays good defense and is super positive with the coaches. The girls look to her.”
Senior captain Erika Pasquale returned to the lineup after missing close to five games with an injury.
“She looked great and it was great to have her back,” Breen said.
For Lynnfield, senior captain Emma Rose (3 points) and freshman Chloe Grieves (2 points) also scored.
The Pioneers (3-6), which are ranked 43rd in the Division 3 power rankings, are back in action Wednesday against No. 30 (Division 4) Manchester-Essex at 5:30.
“We lost to them by 10 the first time we played them, so hopefully we will be better than that,” Breen said. “We just need to play 32 minutes and score enough and not turn the ball over so we have more scoring opportunities.”
Newburyport’s (5-3) next game is at Pentucket Friday (6:30).
“That’s always a tough team so we need to really work hard and be ready,” Grutchfield said.
