Above the Rim: Souhegan girls basketball playing to its strengths

The holiday break can often be a time for winter sports teams to try something different in contests that don't affect the regular-season standings.

That something different for the Souhegan High School girls basketball team was not what the Sabers wanted to be doing.

"We were getting really jump-shot happy," Souhegan coach Mike Heaney said of the team's play in the Nashua North Holiday Tournament. "We've got to run a halfcourt offense and look inside to players."

The Sabers have one of the tallest frontcourts in Division II, with four players 5-11 or taller, and three others listed at 5-9. That includes senior Hannah Chick who has 35 points in Souhegan's last two games, while guard Mia Len has 22 points in the same stretch.

But what's been really key in those two games is that the Sabers (5-0 in Division II) have received contributions from other players as well as Chick and Len.

"We're going to be way better if Hannah and Mia are scoring and we’ve got other scorers to compliment them," Heaney said. "We've got to get contributions from everyone. We start four seniors, we should be able to get players into double figures."

In last Tuesday's win over Milford, Souhegan took advantage of its size to score all 26 of its field goals from inside the 3-point line. The Sabers attempted just two shots from behind the arc.

"Usually, you just have one (girl with size), not four or five," Milford coach Rich Parent said after that game. "One girl isn't going to get you there, it's two, three and four."

The Sabers take the long bus ride to Plymouth (1-5) on Tuesday, but after that is a five-game stretch that could change the outlook of the season for Souhegan. The team hosts Hanover (3-2), heads to Portsmouth (5-0) and hosts Hollis Brookline (4-3) before back-to-back road games at Windham (1-4) and at Lebanon (5-0).

All hands on deck

It was not a situation conducive to winning a basketball game, but there wasn't much Bishop Guertin could do about it Friday night against Merrimack.

The Cardinals were down four starters for a good part of the second half, as Marie Laplante, Abbi Field and Caroline Hoffer each picked up a fourth foul in the third. Bishop Guertin was also without Molly Dee, who was out with an injury.

There was no choice but to turn to the bench.

"We hung in there and the thing I'm proud of is that we had one starter not play because of an injury, and we had three starters in foul trouble," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick said. "We've been preaching that it's going to take nine or 10 kids, and (Friday) is a good example of players not having played huge minutes for us stepping up and playing a huge rule for us."

Bishop Guertin got solid play from Rachel Marion (six points), who replaced Dee in the starting lineup, while Meagan Morelli (eight points) and Meghan Donovan played well off the bench to help the Cardinals to the win.

"Our bench players really came in and stepped up and did what they knew they could do and what they need to do," Field said. "That was really good."

The Cardinals were able to pull away late by going 9 of 10 from the free throw line, a big turnaround from missing 5 of 8 to start the game.

"We've developed a little bit of a pattern or habit of starting slowly and we've told the kids that's not a good thing," Kreick said. "We've got to get that cleaned up. Against good teams, like the one we played (Friday) and on (last) Tuesday against Londonderry, you have to expend so much energy to get back in the game that you can run out of gas. We've got to figure out a way to turn the light on and play from the opening tip the way we seem to play once the kids have broken a sweat."

Bishop Guertin hosts Nashua South at 5 p.m. on Tuesday in another varsity doubleheader.

Tough week

Bedford (6-0) will put its undefeated record on the line this week with two of the toughest games in D1.

The Bulldogs travel to Hampton on Tuesday to face Winnacunnet (5-1) and then return home on Thursday for rematch with Londonderry (5-1). Bedford won the first meeting 45-33 on Dec. 18.

The division's other undefeated team has two tough road games of its own, as Pinkerton (5-0) heads to Alvirne (4-1) on Tuesday and then travels to Manchester Central (3-2) on Friday. That game is the second of two for the Astros and Little Green, as Pinkerton won the season opener 46-40 in Derry.

Rising

• Alvirne: Since dropping its season opener to Londonderry by 19 points, the Broncos have won four in a row, including a one-point win over Nashua North on Friday.
• Hollis Brookline: The Cavaliers got off to a 1-3 start in 2015, but since the calendar change, HB has won three in a row, including Friday's 19-point win over Milford. The Cavs had lost to the Spartans by three on Dec. 18.

Falling

• Nashua North: The Titans opened the year 3-0 in Division I and then beat Winnacunnet in the Nashua North Holiday Tournament championship game. But since then, North fell to the Warriors by 25 points last Tuesday and then dropped a close one to Alvirne.
• Goffstown: After a 3-1 start, the Grizzlies have dropped their last two, falling by 10 to Manchester West last Monday and losing a rematch of last year's title game to Coe-Brown at home.