Bishop Guertin girls basketball gets No. 1 seed with win over Bedford (video)

NASHUA - Meghan Cramb stepped to the free throw line Friday night with nothing on her mind.

The Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team led Bedford by two points with 3.4 seconds left, with the winner earning the No. 1 seed in the Division I tournament. About half of the crowd vocalized its desire to see the junior fail, while the other half was silent.

Cramb didn't notice any of it, went to the line and sank both foul shots to help the Cardinals preserve a 54-50 win over the Bulldogs.

"I wasn't thinking about anything," Cramb said. "I couldn't hear the fans. I just took a deep breath and got into the zone. I like being in that spot. I like having the pressure on me."

The free throws came after a head's up play that was going in the other direction. Bedford had cut an eight-point lead to six on two 3-pointers by Nikki Tucci and sent Bishop Guertin's Molly Dee to the free throw line for a one-and-one with 10.1 seconds left.

But the first free throw came up short and Bedford’s Courtney O’Connell grabbed the rebound. O’Connell lost her balance as she got rid of the ball, and her pass to Tucci took a little bit longer to get there. Cramb caught up to Tucci as she tried to advance the ball, took it away and was fouled to set up the clinching free throws.

"It was just a great effort play," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick. "She's as hard a working kid as you’re going to find anywhere in the state. We told the kids coming in, and at halftime when we were up three (points), that's a team that's not going to lay down.

"They have proven kids over there. We knew they were going to play 32 minutes. The fact that our kids kept calm, every time that Bedford scratched and clawed its way back, get it within a few points or a tie game, our kids responded pretty well and kept playing."

Cramb finished with a game-high 14 points while Abbi Field, Caroline Hoffer and Rachel Marion each added eight for the Cardinals (17-1), who won their 14th game in a row.

Bedford (15-3) got 12 points from Tucci, including the two late 3-pointers, and Madeline Blake (11 points) and Jenoyce Laniyan (1o) were also in double figures.

The game went back and forth in the first half, as the lead changed hands seven times in the first half. Bishop Guertin led 24-21 at halftime, but Bedford quickly tied the game on a 3-pointer by Madeline Blake to open the third.

But baskets by Field and Hoffer, followed by a 3 by Dee, gave Bishop Guertin a 31-24 lead with 3:58 left in the quarter. The Bulldogs closed the gap, but couldn't make it a one-possession game until late in the fourth.

The Cardinals appeared to be in control when Marie Laplante hit two free throws to make it 52-44 with 49.3 seconds left to play. But the Bulldogs answered right away with a 3-pointer by Tucci, and with the possession arrow in its favor, Bedford got the ball back when it tied up the inbounds pass.

"Nikki Tucci is a great basketball player," Kreick said. "We had a hand in her face on both of the 3s she hit. We can't ask the kids to defend her better than they did, that's just a real good basketball player making a couple of plays to get her team back in it."

Tucci hit another 3, this one with under 30 seconds to play, to make it a two-point game, and once again, the Bulldogs tied up possession. Bedford took a timeout, and this time, the Cardinals were able to advance the ball, working about 10 seconds off the clock before the Bulldogs were able to foul.

"I think our team got a little nervous, but we were able to hold our composure and run our press break and get it up the floor," Cramb said. "We stayed composed and kept our heads up. We felt like still had the clock on our side."

That's the way the Cardinals have played all season long, according to Kreick.

"I thought they did a really good job keeping their composure throughout the game," he said. "Maybe the single most impressive thing about this group is that they don’t look ahead. What’s next on the calendar? Who is the next team we’re going to play?

"They've done a really great job of not thinking too far ahead. I thought they were really solid with their approach all week. They knew they were playing a good basketball team and I don't think they thought too much about it from a seeding perspective."