Bedford girls basketball wraps up regular season with win over Londonderry (video)

LONDONDERRY - One of the things the Bedford High School girls basketball team does best is attack the basket, with the intention of one of three things happening.

Either the Bulldogs score, get the offensive rebound, or get to the free throw line.

In Wednesday's loss to Wachusett (Holden, Mass.), they weren't on the attack, and it showed, as Bedford attempted just seven free throws while getting outscored by 14 points at the line in a seven-point loss.

The Bulldogs got back to attacking the basket on Saturday afternoon, including a 10-point advantage from the free throw line, on the way to a 57-46 win over Londonderry in a Division I game.

Mel McCarthy had 16 points to lead Bedford (16-2) while Sarah Muir (three 3-pointers) and Juliet Laws (6 of 7 free throws) each added 13 points.

“We settled against Wachusett, we wouldn’t attack,” Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs said. “I said to them we’ve got to attack in this game, and we did. We did a nice job of attacking, but even more importantly, even after that first miss, they attacked the boards.”

And when the Bulldogs needed to step up on defense, they did. Londonderry (14-3) had a 12-9 lead after one quarter, but went scoreless for almost five minutes to open the second, as Bedford went on a 10-run.

Then, after the Lancers cut the lead to three points, 39-36, by the end of the third quarter, the Bulldogs opened the fourth with a 10-3 run to take a 49-39 lead with 5:05 left in the game.

“They tightened up their defense a little bit and we were kind of shell-shocked by it, instead of just being like, all right, they went on a run, now it’s time to go on our run,” Londonderry coach Jon Doherty said of the start of the second quarter. “We just didn’t do those things.”

Sammie Sullivan finished with 16 points for the Lancers and Brooke Eacrett scored 11 points, including the 1,000th of her career. Gemma Murray added eight points, including two 3-pointers but Londonderry struggled at the free throw line, shooting 9 of 20.

“Defense was the key,” Gibbs said. “We told them right from the start, it all depends on how we defend because we know we can put the ball in the hole. We needed to stop their key kids from putting the ball in the hole. Eva Zink did a great job on Sammie.

“Our kids defend better than anybody I know and they hold up under pressure. (Londonderry) makes our kids work extra hard for anything that they do get.”

After Bedford went up 19-12 in the second quarter, Londonderry got back-to-back baskets to break its scoring drought. The Bulldogs held a 26-21 lead going into the break and a 3 by Murray to open the second half made it a two-point game.

The teams went back and forth throughout the third quarter, with Bedford going up by as many as eight points and never letting Londonderry get closer than three. A basket by Sullivan in the final minute got the Lancers within 39-35 and a foul by the Bulldogs with 1.8 left in the quarter put Eacrett at the line.

The senior made the first - which was her 1,000th point - but missed the second to leave the Bedford lead at three going into the fourth.

Muir opened the final quarter with a jumper, Zink followed with a putback, and after a Londonderry turnover, Muir hit a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs up 46-36.

Murray answered with a 3 but the Lancers would get no closer than six points the rest of the way, as Bedford went 8 for 8 at the free throw line in the final two minutes.

“That’s huge,” Gibbs said. “We work on free throws. It doesn’t always show up that way, but we work on them. These kids, when it matters, they come up big.”