Bedford girls basketball makes statement with win over Londonderry (video)

BEDFORD - The Bedford High School girls basketball team went into Friday night's game against Londonderry feeling like it had something to prove.

After playing its closest game of the year at Portsmouth the last time out, the Bulldogs were looking to turn in a convincing performance against another one of the top teams in Division I.

Bedford did just that, getting out to a commanding lead early and leaving no doubt in the third quarter on the way to a 74-34 win over the Lancers.

The Bulldogs (11-0) led 17-0 to start the game, and after Londonderry (7-2) got the lead down to 13 points at halftime, Bedford outscored the Lancers 22-5 in the third quarter to roll to the victory. That came on the heels of Bedford's 56-50 win over Portsmouth on Tuesday, a game the Bulldogs led 21-3 after one quarter.

"The reaction after Tuesday was that wasn’t us," Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs said. "It was in the first quarter, but it wasn’t after that. We got a good win against a tough opponent on the road, but the mission was we have to come out and show everybody that we are what we are, and the kids did it."

Kate Allard led the way on both ends of the floor, scoring a game-high 24 points while shutting down Sammie Sullivan, Londonderry's leading scorer, at the other end. Sullivan finished with four points.

"Kate’s job was to not let Sammie score the ball and Kate did an unbelievable job," Gibbs said. "And then she managed to get 24 points of her own. Everybody thinks of her as offense, offense, offense, but Kate has become an elite defender. She did a good job on her (Friday)."

Annie Zink added 14 points for Bedford while Lana McCarthy had 11 points, despite sitting for most of the first half in foul trouble.

With McCarthy out, the Lancers were able to get back in the game, ending the first quarter with an 8-0 run to make it 17-8 Bulldogs after one. A 9-0 run midway through the second got Londonderry within seven points, 24-17, but Bedford answered to take a 33-20 lead into the break.

"The run we made, we were moving the ball, we were driving with a purpose, we were kicking the ball out," Londonderry coach Jon Doherty said. "We were finding shooters, finding people, and we did a very good job with those things. Then they went on a run and we sagged into ourselves and got a little stuck in the mud."

Brooke Eacrett and Mia Giampa each had nine points to lead Londonderry while Molly Knight added six points.

Bedford opened the second half with back-to-back 3s from Allard and Sarah Muir, followed by two free throws and a basket by McCarthy to turn it into a 23-point lead for the Bulldogs.

The Lancers finally got on the board in the second half on a basket by Eacrett, and moments later, Knight hit a 3 to make it 44-25, but Londonderry wouldn't score again until early in the fourth quarter.

To Doherty, it looked similar to the third quarter the Lancers had the week before in a 74-48 loss to Pinkerton.

"We did the exact same thing, where things didn’t go our way, and I just had a bunch of kids try to do it themselves," the coach said. "Until this team figures out to move the ball is our key to success, that’s going to happen every time we play a team that’s better than us."

Both teams return to the court Jan. 30 against teams that had Friday off. Bedford hosts Winnacunnet (1-9) while Londonderry welcomes in Merrimack (0-10), with both games starting at 7 p.m.