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Defense leads Manchester Essex to win

Friday, January, 04 By Richard Slate
Staff writer

After one quarter last night, the Manchester Essex girls basketball team found itself down 9-4 at Northeast Regional. Despite that slow start, the Hornets responded to post a dominating 47-19 win in Wakefield over the Knights.

"In the first quarter, we just didn't hit any shots," said Manchester Essex head coach Lauren Dubois, "They played a zone defense against us. We readjusted in the second half and added more pressure defensively."

Junior guard Lee Stroman led the Hornets (3-3, 1-3) with nine points while junior forward Hannah Dumont (eight points) and senior forward Allison Hogan (six points) were other offensive standouts.

Manchester Essex was ahead 18-9 at the half and outscored the Knights 29-8 in the final two quarters.

"We played man-to-man defense," Dubois said. "We stuck with it and put a lot of pressure on their guards. We tried to make it tough on them to get their offense started."

Hornets junior forward Jordan Biggar hit two 3-pointers in the win and junior forward Jen Bishop notched five points. In all, nine Manchester Essex players scored.

Manchester Essex hosts the Amesbury Indians tonight at 6:30 in a Cape Ann League matchup.