Bishop Guertin, Bedford advance to D1 girls basketball final

The Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team knew Tuesday night's Division I semifinal against Goffstown was going to be different from when the teams met in the first game of the regular season.

So while the Cardinals expected the Grizzlies to be better than they were three months ago, they also knew they had to be better, and for Meghan Stack, that meant taking on more on offense.

Stack scored a game-high 25 points, which included going 7 of 7 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, to help No. 1 Bishop Guertin pull away from No. 4 Goffstown late for a 67-49 win in the final four at Londonderry High School.

The win puts the Cardinals in the final for the seventh time in eight years, where they will face No. 3 Bedford, which knocked off No. 2 Portsmouth, 64-60, in the other semifinal. It will be the third year in a row, and the fifth time since 2013, that the two teams will play for a championship.

To get there, Bishop Guertin (19-0) had to hold off a team it beat by 26 points when they first play on Dec. 13.

"I think like any team, they get better as the season goes on," Stack said on the NFHS Network broadcast. "They’re a threat from anywhere on the floor. Our focus was defense, mostly in the halfcourt. We knew what they were going to give us. It was about getting to our style of play."

But whenever it looked like the Cardinals were going to be able to go on a run to put the game away, the Grizzlies (17-4) were able to keep it from happening and close the gap. Bishop Guertin led 21-8 after one quarter, but led 29-20 going into halftime.

It was still just a seven-point game going into the fourth quarter, and two free throws by Ava Winterburn with 4:54 to play kept Goffstown within striking distance, down 55-47. But foul trouble caught up with the Grizzlies after that, as Winterburn and Ava Ruggiero both fouled out in the final four minutes.

Winterburn finished with 24 points, including two 3-pointers, while Ruggiero also had two 3s and 10 points and Maggie Sasso chipped in with eight markers.

Stack was 11 of 12 at the free throw line overall and was able to take advantage of her size to lead the Cardinals' offense.

"I was just focusing on one play at a time," she said. "If the ball ended up in my hands, I just wanted to attack and take it to the basket. That’s one thing I hadn’t done a lot of this season, I was looking to pass a lot and be a playmaker."

Hannah Lynch and Brooke Paquette were also in double figures for Bishop Guertin, scoring 14 and 12, respectively.

No. 3 Bedford 64, No. 2 Portsmouth 60

The Bulldogs overcame some early struggles and first-half foul trouble for Lana McCarthy to avenge a regular-season loss to the Clippers in the first semifinal.

After sitting the entire second quarter with three fouls, McCarthy came back to score 18 of her game-high 24 points in the second half, while Kate Allard added 14 points and Lyla Stein had 10 points for Bedford (19-2).

Portsmouth (18-2) got 22 points off the bench from Mackenzie Lombardi, as she hit six 3-pointers, while Savannah Emery and Avery Romps each had 10 points.

The Clippers led 15-12 when McCarthy picked up her third foul with 16 seconds left in the first quarter, and with the Bedford junior on the bench to start the second, Portsmouth stretched the lead. Lombardi hit three of the team's four 3s in the quarter to put the Clippers up 29-20 with 1:48 to go until halftime.

But Bedford was able to close the gap, as Allard answered with a 3 to start a 7-0 run and make it a two-point game at the break.

The Bulldogs took their first lead since early in the game less than two minutes into the third quarter, as the teams traded the lead seven times, including on a buzzer-beating basket by McCarthy that gave Bedford a 48-47 lead going into the fourth.

Bedford took control from there, opening the final quarter with a 10-2 run to take its largest lead of the game, 58-49, with 4:47 to play. But Portsmouth was able to chip away, and after Lombardi and Romps each made a pair of free throws, the Clippers trailed by one, 60-59, with 1:23 to go.

With it still a one-point game, and under 10 seconds to play, Sydney Grogan (seven points) hit 3 of 4 free throws to put the win away for Bedford.