Bedford girls basketball dominates in win over Pinkerton

BEDFORD - The stakes will be higher in a month, but that didn't stop the Bedford High School girls basketball team from wanting to play its best game Friday night against Pinkerton Academy.

By the end, the Bulldogs left little doubt who will be the top team heading into the Division I playoffs.

Up by one point at the end of the first quarter, Bedford used a 16-2 run in the second to build a double-digit lead and poured it on in the second half on the way to a 91-54 win over Pinkerton in a battle of the two teams at the top of the D1 standings.

Kate Allard and Lyla Stein each had 18 points to lead the Bulldogs (15-0) while Lana McCarthy added 14 points despite being in foul trouble all night. Megan Muir came off the bench to add 13 points and Sarah Muir was also in double figures with 11.

As a team, Bedford hit eight 3-pointers, with Megan Muir and Stein getting three apiece, and the defense forced Pinkerton into 22 turnovers and held the Astros (14-1) to their lowest offensive output of the season.

"They played the way that they’re capable of," Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs said. "Before this game, we said, this game matters, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. We need to go out there and let everybody know what we’re capable of doing. We did what we do well well."

Elizabeth Lavoie had a game-high 28 points to lead Pinkerton, with all of her scoring coming in the first three quarters. Kaylee Dupuis added 12 points and Alexandria White chipped in with 11 points for the Astros, who were without injured point guard Sydney Gerossie for the third straight game.

"We just got our butts kicked by a very good team," Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey said. "They’re the better team. If we even think we’re close to a championship team, we have to reevaluate. The good news is, I think we’re talented enough, we can right the ship. Right now, I need them to feel that butt whooping."

Through one quarter, it seemed the game would live up to the expectation of a matchup between two teams that were undefeated after three-quarters of the regular season.

Bedford jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Allard and Stein and Pinkerton turned the ball over on three of its first four possessions. The Bulldogs went up 17-10 with a little more than three minutes left in the first, despite McCarthy going to the bench 1:28 into the game with two fouls.

The Astros responded with an 8-0 to take their first lead and it took a buzzer-beating layup by Sarah Muir to give Bedford a 21-20 lead going into the second quarter.

A 3-pointer by Megan Muir made it 25-20 early in the second, but Dupuis answered with a 3 to make it a two-point game. Pinkerton got a stop, but turned the ball over and a putback by Allard put Bedford up four and started the Bulldogs on a 16-2 run.

That included two more 3-pointers from Megan Muir, the second of which made it 41-25 with 2:15 left in the first half.

"People don’t realize what a good shooter Megan Muir is," Gibbs said. "She’s coming into her own and she can shoot. Having her coming off the bench, as a college-scholarship lacrosse player, she’s already locked in defensively. But the girl can shoot the ball, too. Those were daggers."

Pinkerton was able to close the gap down to 11 points on a 3 by Lavoie in the final minute, but a basket by Mel McCarthy right before the buzzer made it 45-32 Bedford at the break.

"They outhustled us and they were faster than us," Buskey said. "If you’re going to slow them down, you’ve got to run your offensive sets and you’ve got to kick back and we didn’t do either. They were flat out the better team. We kept up in the first quarter and then it fell apart."

With Lana McCarthy back on the floor to start the second half - the senior picked up her third foul with just under six minutes left in the second quarter and sat the rest of the half - Bedford started going inside and extended the lead to 20 points midway trough the third.

Lavoie scored 11 of Pinkerton's 15 points in the third, helping the Astros keep it a 66-47 Bulldogs lead going into the fourth. Bedford shifted its focus for the final eight minutes to stop the senior from scoring again.

"She was scoring a ton and then she didn’t score at all in the fourth quarter," Gibbs said. "Our whole game plan was, look, every time she gets the ball, she never passes. Defend her, take her charge, and if the help comes, make her life miserable. Make her throw it up at the backboard.

"Lani is a great coach, she’s going to look at the film and tell her you’ve got to share. That was the adjustment we made and it helped."

Bedford outscored Pinkerton 25-7 in the fourth quarter to reach what was is likely a program record for points in a single game. The win should give the Bulldogs the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the D1 playoffs, which begin Feb. 27, with the championship game scheduled for March 9.

"It’s a win, just like that last game was a win," Gibbs said. "We’ll start preparing for (next Friday's opponent) Bishop Guertin on Monday. Our attitude is one game at a time. They aren’t looking down the road, they’re looking to the next game."