Machado’s Buzzer Beater Upsets Mariners

Junior guard Morganna Machado (Attleboro, Mass./Attleboro) opened the game with a trey and ended it with a Hail Mary three with 4.6 seconds remaining in the contest as the Newbury College women's basketball  team upset second place Mitchell College, 60-59, on Senior Day, 2011.  

Following Machado's three to start the game, the Mariners responded with a 7-0 run to take a 7-3 advantage. After matching buckets by sophomore Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) and  Mitchell senior Brittany Smyth (Winsted, Conn./Gilbert School), junior guard Kendra Bannister (Washington, D.C./Brooke Point) pulled Newbury within one with her first three of the contest at 13:24.

Young answered netting back-to-back jumpers and found an open O'Neil as the Mariners jumped out to their largest lead of the half, 16-9. The Nighthawks turned it on. Senior guard Ashley Monteiro (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin) cut the deficit to four with a long range jumper on pass from Bannister.

For nearly four minutes mid-way through the first, Bannister was unstoppable. She picked the pocket of sophomore Kaylee Cerruto (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) and took it coast-to-coast to bring the Nighthawks within two. As the Mariners kept increasing their lead, Bannister continue to match them, cutting the deficit to one in two consecutive possessions.

Trailing, 20-19 Young responded to Bannister and pushed the lead to three. It was the last lead the Mariners had in the half.  On Senior Day, Monteiro knotted up the score at 22 with under 10 minutes left in the half. The Nighthawks did not look back as they took a 35-33 advantage into the locker room.

The Nighthawks continued to put the pressure on the Mariners when they returned to the court at the start of the second. Senior guard Amy Chen (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) had a terrific game in her final home regular season game of her collegiate career. The Chelmsford native opened the half ripping down a rebound from a three-point attempt by Mitchell senior Allison Peck (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy).

On the same possession, as the Mariners double teamed O'Connell, they were unaware of Chen sneaking in. O'Connell quickly spotted Chen cutting towards the bucket and made a smooth pass to Chen for the easy lay-up to spark a 12-3 run.

Newbury led by as much as 11 points in the second after a good three by Machado at 14:18 put the Nighthawks up 47-36 but the Mariners mounted a comeback. O'Neil was a force in the low-post in the second half, registering all seven of her offensive rebounds. With under five minutes left to play, the New London native knotted up the contest at 53 with a put-back lay-up. A minute later she gave the Mariners their first lead since 9:38 in the first with another second opportunity bucket, sparking 6-0 run that ate up a majority of the clock.

Down six with under two minutes to play, the Nighthawks did not waver. After Monteiro netted one of two from the charity stripe, the Newbury defense came up huge. The Nighthawks forced a Mariners turnover leading to a Machado trey, cutting the deficit to two with a minute left in regulation. Newbury got the ball back with 35 seconds remaining on the clock after a big block and rebound from O'Connell.

As time dripped from the clock, Monteiro went up for the game winning three but only to be rejected by a block from Mariner freshman guard Nina Giansanti (Montville, Conn./Montville).  With 4.6 seconds left in the contest, the Nighthawks had one second remaining on the shot clock. Sophomore forward Jasmine Bishop (Waterville, Maine/Waterville Senior) stood at the corner of the baseline for a moment before she connected with Machado, who launched the game-winning trey at the buzzer.

The Nighthawks improve to 8-6 in the NECC and 10-13 overall with the victory while the Mariners drop out of second place at 10-4 and 13-7. Newbury returns to the hard-court on Tuesday February 15^th when they travel to Nashua, N.H. to tip-off against the conference leading Daniel Webster College Eagles at 7:00pm.

- Game photo by: Samantha Yanofsky