After slow start, Bishop Guertin girls basketball cruises past Nashua North

NASHUA - Everything that has made the Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team successful over the last half-dozen years was on display in the opening 30 seconds of the second quarter Sunday.

Up three points at the end of one, the Cardinals opened with possession, worked the ball around until Kailee McDonald found an open lane and scored. A turnover by Nashua North led to a transition basket by Olivia Murray and a timeout for the Titans just 28 seconds into the quarter.

Those baskets started an 11-0 run for the Cardinals, as they forced North into 12 turnovers in the second quarter and allowed just two points, on the way to a 70-26 win over the Titans in the Division I quarterfinals.

Bishop Guertin (16-0) moves on to the semifinals for the sixth year in a row, where it will face Londonderry, which knocked off Windham on Sunday, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Sanborn Regional High School. Bedford and Portsmouth will meet in the other semifinal.

"We had a really good second quarter," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick said. We held them to two (points), so we’ll take that. We started making some shots and some different kids started making shots. That was a good thing to see."

Murray led the Cardinals with 15 points and Brooke Paquette was in double figures with 12 points, as each hit a pair of 3-pointers. McDonald scored all 10 of her points in the first half while Meghan Stack, Maizie Barker and Catelyn Wheeler finished with eight points apiece.

North (4-9) got 11 points from Victoria Conrad, while Natalie Burgess, Olivia Mazerolle and Grace Cardin had four points each.

The Cardinals took an early lead but back-to-back baskets by Mazerolle and Cardin put the Titans up 6-5 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Bishop Guertin responded with a 10-0 run, taking a 15-6 lead on a putback by Maddie Bowen with 1:45 left in the quarter.

North closed out the quarter with a 6-0 run, including two baskets by Conard in the final minute, to make it a 15-12 lead for the Cardinals after one.

"They were not going to let us get anything in the paint," Kreick said of the first quarter. "They have a kid (Conrad) who it’s hard to get downhill on, so it took us a little while to get going. It’s not uncommon for us."

The two quick baskets to open the second quarter made it a seven-point game, and after the timeout by North, Barker hit a 3 to give Bishop Guertin a 22-12 lead. Baskets by McDonald and Wheeler made it an 11-0 run to open the quarter, and after Burgess scored the Titans' only points of the second, the Cardinals went on a 17-0 run to end the half.

"We just needed to get more aggressive on defense," Murray said "In the first quarter, we weren’t really playing as intense as we should have. At the end of the first quarter, Brad was telling us we needed to start focusing. We started to get some steals and things started to come together."

The teams traded baskets to open the third to make it 47-18 Bishop Guertin, but a 3 by Murray started an 18-2 run that gave the Cardinals a 65-20 lead with under three minutes to play in the quarter.

"That kid has fit in beautifully," Kreick said of Murray, who played at Salem last season. "She has a hundred percent bought into what we value. I can’t tell you how much she has improved defensively. The first thing you think of her is that she’s a pure scorer, and she can shoot the lights out. But I’m so happy that she bought in defensively."

Murray was a part of a defensive performance by the Cardinals that forced 23 turnovers through the first three quarters, and after giving up 12 points in the first quarter, allowed 11 in the next two.

Bishop Guertin will face Londonderry in the semifinals, with the Lancers making it to the final four for the second year in a row.

"(Londonderry coach) Nick (Theos) does a great job with his teams," Kreick said. "I can’t remember a Londonderry team that wasn’t a lot better at the end of the year than the beginning of the year. They did this last year and got to the final four last year with a team that wasn’t expected to get there."