Machado’s Career Game-High Helps Nighthawks Soar Over Hawks

Junior guard Morganna Machado (Attleboro, Mass./Attelboro) registered a career game-high, draining 26 points in Newbury College's 71-63 victory over Becker College. The win improves the Nighthawks to 1-1 in the conference and 3-7 overall while the Hawks drop to 0-1 and 2-6 overall. 

Machado opened the game with a long jumper five seconds in as Newbury jumped out to a 5-0 lead but the Hawks began to chip away at the deficit. Freshman Tatiana Mojica (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) sparked a 5-2 Becker run netting both of her free throws five minutes in to knot up the score at seven leading to a see-saw battle, highlighted by six lead changes in the half.

Newbury senior guard Ashley Monteiro (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin) sent the Nighthawks to the locker room with the three-point, 30-27, draining a long range with 10 seconds left after Becker senior Heidi Miller (Sanbornton, N.H./Winnisquam) tied up the contest at 27.

After playing high-quality defense in the first, recording two blocks and a steal, Machado put on an offensive laser show in the second.  She drained 21 of her game-high 26 points in the second half with 12 of them coming from beyond the arc and added two assists to her three from the first half to finish with five on the day. The 5'7" guard from Attleboro had an all around solid game on both sides of the ball.

Sophomores  Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) and Jasmine Bishop (Waterville, Maine./Waterville Senior) clogged up the middle and were a force to be reckoned with on defense. The two second year forwards combined to pull down 34 rebounds – nearly as many total rebounds as Becker had on the day. Also in the fold were O'Connell's three rejected shot attempts from Becker sophomore Nicole Morse (Alton, N.H./New Hampton) and freshman Haley Ooms (Valatie, N.Y./Ichabod Crane) mid-way through the second period. She now has 16 blocks on the season.

Despite the loss, Mojica led three Hawks in double figures tallying a team-high 17 points. Ooms and freshman Chelsea Joubert (Westborough, Mass./Assabet Valley) followed up netting 14 points  each on the afternoon.

Newbury returns to the hard-court in the new year when they tip-off against New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) foe Wheelock College on January 8^th at 5:30pm.

- Game photo by: Samantha Yanofsky