Above the Rim: Lebanon girls basketball relying on defense

When the Lebanon High School girls basketball team won its first eight games of the regular season, it was easy to forget what the Raiders went through last year.

For the first time in 35 years, Lebanon didn't advance to the at least the quarterfinals in 2015, and for the first time in coach Tim Kehoe's 27 years with the Raiders, the team didn't have a returning player who had been named all-state.

But when a program like Lebanon, which reach the championship game five times from 2007-13, winning twice, returns to the top of the standings, perception doesn't always match reality.

"We're not the most athletic team," Kehoe said. "We're a really good defensive team. We grind plays out and we're more blue collar."

That shows in the Raiders' results, as they've scored 60 points or more just three times all season, against teams that are a combined 5-29.

But Lebanon has allowed more than 40 points just three times this year, including 41 in a four-point win over Hanover, 46 in a loss to Hollis Brookline and 47 on Saturday in a loss to Goffstown.

"Sometimes we play exceptionally, sometimes we have an off night," Kehoe said. "We work extremely hard. I think the kids have done a nice job of playing really good, hard defense and grinding games out. We're going to have to continue to do that to be successful."

The Raiders are at home Tuesday to take on Mascoma Valley.

Offensive struggles

Through the first 10 games of the regular season, the Pinkerton girls had averaged 47.6 points per game and won all 10. But in their last two, the Astros have struggled on offense, scoring 29 points in a loss to Nashua North and just 28 on Saturday against Londonderry.

Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey feels that the team needs more players to want to step up and contribute.

"I have two girls who want to be a weapon and I have three girls who don’t always want to be a weapon," Buskey said. "I need all five and two girls from the bench being weapons on offense, and we're easy to defend if the other coach knows only two girls want to take the shot."

Against the Lancers, Pinkerton had a tough time getting over half court and wasn't able to get many second-chance opportunities, putting the Astros' defense in a bad spot.

"We have great defense and I'm proud of the effort, but there's no defense in the world that’s going to be able to defend when you're a one-and-done team," Buskey said. "We got into a sync early on, where we were finding the right weapons, but now those weapons seem to not want to take the shot. We need them to take those shots to build confidence. We've got to work on the confidence and the execution."

Pinkerton will try to snap its recent skid Tuesday when it hosts Spaulding.