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# Bedford girls basketball comes back in second half to beat Manchester Memorial
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bedford-girls-basketball-comes-back-in-second-half-to-beat-manchester-memorial/
- Published: 2021-02-20T17:25:24.000Z
- Updated: 2021-02-20T17:25:24.000Z
- Description: BEDFORD - After a slow start offensively Friday night, the Bedford High School girls basketball team seemed to get going in the opening minutes of the second quarter. A 7-0 run in just 72 seconds put the Bulldogs up by nine points against Manchester Memorial, but the offensive struggles returned. Be
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Bedford, girls basketball, Manchester Memorial, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

BEDFORD - After a slow start offensively Friday night, the Bedford High School girls basketball team seemed to get going in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

A 7-0 run in just 72 seconds put the Bulldogs up by nine points against Manchester Memorial, but the offensive struggles returned. Bedford went scoreless over the final 6:48 of the half and found itself down by three at halftime.

The Bulldogs recommitted to their game plan during the break, and that, along with some sharpshooting from Isabella King, helped Bedford take command in the third quarter on the way to a 48-41 win over the Crusaders in Division I action.

King scored a game-high 28 points, 13 of which came in the third quarter, including two 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the half, the second of which gave the senior 1,000 points for her high school career. She is the first player in the girls program to reach the milestone, and the second in school history.

"It’s very special and an honor, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates," King said of reaching the mark. "They just give me great opportunities and set me up. And (Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs) gave me this opportunity, playing me a lot and believing in me."

Catherine Penick added seven points for Bedford (8-2) in her first game back from an injury, as she came off the bench to provide the Bulldogs with a boost on defense.

"My initial intent was to use her sparingly," Gibbs said. "Catherine is a decent perimeter defender, but it felt like we didn’t get any rebounds in the first half. I know we did, but we weren’t doing on the boards what we did Wednesday night.

"Anything that was within three time zones of her on the boards was hers and that was the difference maker. She hit a couple of shots, but her rebounding gave us the energy we needed to do the things we do."

Memorial (5-6) got 15 points from Elizabeth Barrientos while Jessica Carrier had eight points and Madison Pepra-Omani chipped in with seven, as seven players scored for the Crusaders. Memorial ended the first half on a 12-0 run to take a 23-20 lead into halftime and went up by five to open the third quarter.

After Bedford won by 14 points when the teams met Wednesday, Memorial coach Greg Cotreau was hoping to see his team improve in a few areas.

"We wanted to hold them to 50 points," Cotreau said. "I was really happy with our defense. Our offense, we missed some shots that we would normally make. I thought our effort rebounding was way better. They probably did get us on the boards overall, but I don’t think the discrepancy was as bad.

"We limited a lot of their points in transition. We had a bad third quarter here, too. If we can solve that third quarter and off the glass and out of transition, it’s a different game."

A basket by Barrientos in the opening seconds of the third quarter put Memorial up 25-20, but King responded with a 3-pointer. The pair traded baskets again, with Barrientos hitting a jumper and King knocking down a 3 at the other end; the game was stopped for a moment and King was given the game ball, which quickly found its way to her parents in the stands.

That second 3 started Bedford on a 16-4 run over the remainder of the third quarter, with King scoring the final seven points of the frame, turning a 32-31 lead into an eight-point advantage going into the fourth.

"They were very patient on offense (in the first half) and we were very hurried on offense," Gibbs said. "They hit some shots, and in the second quarter, we tried to make a five-point shot, and it obviously wasn’t working. We went in, we talked and we just basically reset. They felt they were successful in the 2-3 zone, so we reset what we were going to do attacking the zone and we put people where we knew they’d be successful. They went out and executed it."

The Bulldogs got the lead up to 10 points in the fourth quarter, but the Crusaders were able to keep that advantage from growing any further. Pepra-Omani hit a 3 on an inbounds play in the final seconds to provide the final score.

Both teams finish out the regular season next week. Memorial hosts Trinity on Monday at 6 p.m. before two games against Goffstown, while Bedford goes to Portsmouth on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and finishes up at home against Manchester Central on Thursday.