'Elite 8' Bound: Avery Hallinan (25 points), stellar defense lead Amesbury to state quarterfinal
Mar. 9—AMESBURY — Knowing that, win or lose, it was going to be the last game of the season on their home court, Sami Kimball and the Amesbury girls basketball team wanted desperately to protect their house.
And to do that, they had to dig in on defense.
"Coach really encouraged us to stay on our girls and play really good defense," said junior Sami Kimball, who finished with 7 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks. "We practiced hard all week, and I think we showed we knew what we were doing out there."
Thanks to a strong showing on the defensive side of the ball, No. 4 Amesbury was able to build a comfortable lead at halftime and ride it to a 50-39 win Tuesday night. Kimball was the rim protector all night, and Avery Hallinan had a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds to help lead Amesbury to Saturday's Division 4 state quarterfinal.
Hallinan got her team going early offensively, and Amesbury (18-4) put in a strong 16 minutes on the defensive end to lead 25-12 going into halftime.
"Our first half defense was probably some of the best defense we've played all year, the way we were switching and recovering," said Amesbury coach Gregg Dollas. "Sami Kimball I thought had probably her best overall defensive game out there. She had four blocks, some of the boards she had were huge and she hit some clutch midrange shots for us."
The area's top scorer, Hallinan scored 16 of her game-high 25 points during the first half. The game plan was to get her the ball early and often, and she delivered. That said, it wasn't the cleanest half offensively for Amesbury, but the senior captain made sure her team had a lead heading into the break.
And coming out for the third, Liv DeLong took over.
Amesbury started with a nice set play to get DeLong an easy layup, and the senior came down the other end and swatted away a Frontier layup attempt to get her team possession. She ended up scoring six straight points to start the third to give her team a 31-12 lead, and finished the game with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Frontier (17-5) cut the lead down to 12 late in the third, but Hallinan scored five straight points and Kimball hit a smooth midrange jumper to put Amesbury up 40-23 heading into the fourth.
Still, Frontier didn't go away.
Kylie Laford (15 pts) and Kaitlyn Mackin (13 pts) helped Frontier cut it to as close as 43-33 with just over three minutes left, but Gabby Redford responded with a huge 3 for Amesbury to stop the momentum. Kimball hit another big basket late, and the home team was able to run out the rest of the clock to close out the win.
"It's feels great. I'm so proud of our team," said Kimball. "This was the last game on our court, so we had to prove that we were the better team and that we can work together as a team."
Amesbury will now get a familiar opponent in the quarterfinals in CAL foe and No. 12-seeded Hamilton-Wenham. The two teams have already played three times this season, with Amesbury winning twice (61-36, 62-47) and Hamilton-Wenham winning once (51-45).
The game is tentatively set for Saturday at 2 p.m. from Whittier Tech.
Amesbury 50, Frontier 39
Division 4 Round of 16
Frontier (39): Claire Kirkendall 0-0-0, Hannah Mackin 1-0-2, Kaitlyn Mackin 4-5-13, Hailey Hutkoski 2-0-4, Kylie Laford 6-0-14, Delaney Fifield 3-0-6, Alena Maes-Polan 0-0-0, Madison McKemmie 0-0-0. Totals 16-5-39
Amesbury (50): Sami Kimball 3-1-7, Gabby Redford 1-0-3, Avery Hallinan 8-9-25, Liv DeLong 7-0-14, McKenna Hallinan 0-1-1, Callie Catarius 0-0-0, Emma Dollas 0-0-0. Totals 19-11-50
3-pointers: F — Laford 2; A — Redford
Frontier (17-5): 4 8 11 16 — 39
Amesbury (18-4): 12 13 15 10 — 50