NEWPORT – After falling to Hopkinton on Friday night 54-37, the Newport girls bounced back in a big way, beating Mascoma 57-37 on Tuesday night.
The Tigers came out aggressive early on and built a 10-0 lead as their full court press caused issues for the visiting Royals. Mascoma didn’t score their first bucket until under three minutes left in the first frame.
Newport’s Greysan Beaulieu hit back-to-back three pointers to end the quarter, as the Tigers shot out to a 17-6 advantage after the first quarter. Newport had six scorers in the first quarter alone.
“I thought we forced the tempo early,” said Newport head coach Ross Dole after the home win. “We were all over the court in that first quarter and that dictated the game.”
Newport continued to attack in the second frame as they went on a 7-0 run midway through the quarter. Mascoma crawled out of that hole, however, and went on a 5-0 run late in the half to bring the game within twelve heading into the third, 27-15.
The start of the second half saw some hard fouls as the intensity in Wheeler Gymnasium picked up. Newport had only grown their lead by a single point over the first 7:45 of the quarter, and then Alyssa Burr tallied five points in the final 15 seconds of the quarter. Her layup and then three-pointer after a Tiger steal gave Newport a 43-25 lead going into the final frame.
The Tigers maintained the lead and stretched it to twenty points in the final frame as the bench was coming in and picking up right where the starters left off. 10 Tigers scored on Tuesday night in a complete team-effort.
“I was really glad to see some girls get some minutes, make some foul shots… it’s nice to see the whole bench come in and contribute,” said coach Dole.
After Tuesday night’s game, Dole saw improvement from the opening-game loss to Hopkinton, saying, “I think that first game we had a lot of jitters. We tried to do some of the same things… tonight we executed. We got a lead and then we played strong.” He went on to say, “This was a big win… It’s good to have two home games to start. It’s going to get harder from here. We all know this is a process.”
Newport returns to action on the road against Conant on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.
Scoring on Tuesday night:
Mascoma: Peavy 11 points, Pelton 6 points, Henry 5 points, Dowd 4 points.
Newport: Eliza Bates 17 points, Alyssa Burr 13 points, Greysan Beaulieu 8 points, Emily Wellman 4 points.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.