MANCHESTER — In the first meeting obetween the two teams this season, the Bishop Guertin girls ran over Londonderry to the tune of a 46-point thumping.
In the semifinals of the Division 1 state tournament last night, the Lancers limited BG to 32 points fewer than the 78 they put up in that Jan. 8 affair.
Unfortunately, the improved defensive effort wasn’t enough to change the outcome.
One year after knocking off the Lancers in the state championship, top-seeded Bishop Guertin once again sent fourth-seeded Londonderry home with a 46-33 victory at Southern New Hampshire University.
With the game time moved up earlier in the day because of the storm, neither team could find the range in a first half that featured only 32 points and BG holding a two-point advantage.
“I couldn’t hit a shot for my life in the first half,” said Londonderry junior Aliza Simpson, who was part of a team effort that converted only 23.8 percent of its 21 first-half field-goal attempts. “But just to know we were still in the game being down by two points showed we had a chance.”
The 33 points were the second fewest for the Lancers this season, one more than the 32 they scored in January against the Cardinals. Those two games were the only times Londonderry put up fewer than 44 all season, and the first time in eight games it was held to fewer than 62.
“I know the last time we played (BG), I looked at the halftime score and they had 40 something, so the fact that they only had 17 at the half I thought was a pretty good defensive effort,” Londonderry coach John Fagula said. “We just needed to make a couple baskets that, in the past month or so, have been going down for us. Aliza had some shots that didn’t go down and obviously the fouls didn’t help either.”
Simpson had to go to the bench after picking up two quick fouls just as Londonderry (17-5) had cut BG’s lead to one early in the fourth on two buckets by Casey Evans to made the score 29-28.
It was the second straight game in the SNHU fieldhouse that Simpson left early because of fouls. A year ago, she also fouled out in the fourth quarter.
“I guess you can say I’m known for fouling now,” Simpson said. “Deja vu of last year. I just have to keep my hands off.”
Bishop Guertin proceeded to score 17 of the game’s final 22 points to advance. The only bucket in that spell for Londonderry came on a Brittany Roche three from the wing and a pair of free throws by Katherine Dzenis.
Evans (12) was the only Lancer with more than six points while BG’s Meghan Green dominated the inside with 24 points and 24 rebounds.
“I thought our kids gave it a pretty good effort defensively the whole game,” Fagula said. “But they hurt us on the boards. But that’s what Green does. She’s a big strong kid who hurt us on some putbacks.”
agateHed:Bishop Guertin 44, Londonderry 33
agateText:Londonderry: 6 9 9 9 — 33
agateText:Bishop Guertin: 4 13 12 17 — 46
agateText:Londonderry (33): Jaime King 1 1-2 3, Aliza Simpson 2 1-2 6, Katherine Dzenis 0 2-2 2, Jordan Marett 1 0-0 2, Casey Evans 4 4-6 12, Jenna Conroy 2 0-0 5, Elisabeth Caron 0 0-0 0, Taylor Collins 0 0-0 0, Brittany Roche 1 0-0 3, Kirsten Enwright 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 8-12 33
agateText:Bishop Guertin (46): Jamie Sherburne 3 7-10 13, Megan Kerutis 2 0-0 4, Madison Gibbs 1 0-0 2, Meghan Green 8 7-8 24, Nicole Hayner 0 3-4 3, Gabriela Piercy 0 0-0 0, Paige Parkinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 17-22 46
agateText:3 pointers: L — Simpson, Conroy, Roche; BG — Green
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