Bedford girls basketball gets best of Manchester Memorial to open with win (video)

BEDFORD - It was a matchup Friday night of programs that made the Division I girls basketball semifinals a year ago.

But the teams that Manchester Memorial and Bedford high school put on the court looked a lot different than the ones that reached the final four at Southern New Hampshire University back in March.

It showed early on, but as the game moved along, the Bulldogs were able to create some separation and withstood every counter punch the Crusaders threw at them, as Bedford pulled out a 59-47 win over Memorial.

Allison Morgan led the Bulldogs (1-0) with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, while Elizabeth Stevenson added 13 points and Amanda Jonas had 12, as Bedford overcame early foul trouble to get the win.

"I’m really happy with how they played," Bedford coach Sue Thomas said. "We knew Memorial was going to be physical, we knew they’d be tough. They have great shooters, so we talked a lot about defense, which I thought we played great.

"Offensively, we have seven new players, and you could tell. By the end of the game, it was getting a little better. I’m fine with that, as long as our defense is playing well."

Three of those players are freshmen, and they got thrown into the fire early, after Morgan, Stevenson and Kendra Barnard all picked up two fouls in the first half. But after trailing Memorial 16-13 early in the second quarter, Bedford went on an 11-2 run to end the first half and went up by as many as 10 points in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs turn around was possible in part to the defensive play of Stevenson, who drew the assignment of guarding Memorial's Lyric Grumblatt.

"Lizzie Stevenson, with some help from Emma Rosenbaum, played Lyric Grumblatt the way we told her to," Thomas said. "I said she’s your new best friend. Go stick with her, you’re not helping (on defense). I have so much respect for Lyric. She is an amazing player and if we let her get hot, it might have been a different game."

Grumblatt finished with eight points, half of which came at the free throw line, while Jennessa Brunette had a big game, leading all scorers with 20 points, including 10 of 11 at the line. Tamrah Gould was also in double figures with 11 points, as the Crusaders (1-1) worked through some inexperience of their own.

"We graduated eight kids last year," Memorial coach Greg Cotreau said. "I have three kids with varsity experience. I have a new starting five. I have bench kids who were all on JV last year. To put them in an environment like this this early in the season, we’re only going to grow from it.

"I thought they did a really good job trying to deny Lyric her touches, but then we had some big contributions from other kids. Jennessa Brunette was unreal, she’s going to need to continue to be that second kid. Tamrah Gould is another that when the pressure got up, she stepped into a bigger role. This was a really good test for us and we’re only going to get better as we go."

Memorial was able to cut that 10-point Bedford lead down to four late in the third quarter, but a basket by Stevenson put the Bulldogs up 36-30. The Crusaders had a chance to get closer in the final minute, getting three offensive rebounds, but they couldn't take advantage and Bedford got the ball back.

With 7.7 seconds left, the Bulldogs went down the floor, finding Isabella King for an opener 3-pointer that made it 39-30 after three.

Bedford got the lead up to 13 points early in the third, but Memorial came back, going on a 7-0 run to make it 45-39 on a basket by Grumblatt with 3:49 to play.

But on Bedford's next possession, King got open for a 3 again to push the lead back to nine points, and a 3 by Morgan with 1:43 to go put the Bulldogs up 53-43, and the teams traded free throws the rest of the way.

Bedford goes on the road to Nashua for its next two games, as it will head to South on Tuesday and Bishop Guertin on Friday. Memorial heads home to host Dover on Tuesday.