Bishop Guertin girls basketball cruises to win against Pinkerton

DERRY – Pinkerton Academy girls basketball coach Lani Buskey smiled moments after the end of Friday night's non-competitive clash with Bishop Guertin, and had a simple explanation for what she had just witnessed at the Hackler Gym.

“They're BG,” she said. “They're BG.”

And they were BG to the tune of a 75-30 thrashing of the previously unbeaten Astros, the Cardinals moving to 4-0 on the young Division I season, certainly an impressive display. It may have helped BG that one of the Astros’ best players, Liz Lavoie, was out with an injury, but Guertin’s nine 3-pointers – eight in a 52-18 first half – certainly was a factor.

Those were shots that didn’t fall at all in a loss here nearly a year ago.

“I think we were one for the universe here last year,” Cards coach Brad Kreick said. “We just going a little bit in the first half and made some shots. We made more 3s in the first half than the entire season. … But here's the funny thing: We can't rely on making eight 3s a game, let alone a half …

“We're going to go back to the same things that have always worked for us, which is defend, make people play at our pace at 94 feet, and just try to wear people down a little bit.”

But this Guertin team seems to be on a different level than even past Cardinal squads. Olivia Murray had four 3s en route to a game-high 20 points, while Brooke Paquette added 13 and Catelyn Wheeler and Hannah Lynch each had 12. And don't forget, if they want to go inside, they can with six-footer Meghan Stack (nine points).

“I think just the intensity, overall energy of this team is so good,” Guertin senior guard Brooke Paquette said. “We came into this game knowing it was going to be big game. We put all of our effort into the game.”

The Cards never trailed, jumping out to a 9-4 lead, and after a mini run by Pinkerton (4-1) made it 16-8, the Cards went on an 11-2 run to lead 27-10 after one. Over.

“I thought they really competed,” Kreick said of his team. “They were very unselfish, shared the ball great. Just did the little things. We'll take it.”

Without Lavoie, the Astros had no one in double figures and were led by Kaylee Dupuis’s nine points and seven by their other key offensive player, Sydney Gerossie.

“Our whole system is off,” Buskey said of Lavoie’s absence. “She gets me 25 points, and she gets me another 20 because people are distracted by her, and other kids score. You’ve gotta play full strength against BG, you can’t play down.”

“That was a bummer, she’s such a great player,” Kreick said. “I'm sure she’s as disappointed as anybody else that she wasn’t able to play. She’s a very competitive kid. But she’ll be back in a few days, and that’s an entirely different team next week.”

Guertin, meanwhile, hopes to improve even more. They face Dracut (Mass.) on Wednesday, which will also be a challenge, another team that beat them last season.

“Again, it’s one game,” Kreick said of Friday’s contest. “They were pretty shorthanded (Friday). I don’t think that’s indicative of how competitive these two teams are going to be come tournament time. More likely than not, we’ll likely see them down the road.”

And they’ll still be BG.

Tom King writes for the Nashua Telegraph. Read more at www.nashuatelegraph.com.