Bishop Guertin girls basketball grinds out win over Trinity

MANCHESTER - Coaches can only do so much with a game plan, and at some point, players have to make plays.

Abbi Field and Meghan Cramb did just that for the Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team in Friday's season opener against Trinity.

With the Cardinals up one midway through the fourth quarter, Field was fouled on a made layup and went to the free throw line. Her foul shot was off the mark, but Cramb battled for the putback to give Bishop Guertin a four-point possession on the way to a 37-35 win over the Pioneers.

"That's not a lot about Xs and Os," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick said. "To me, that's about the kids just gritting their teeth and being tough in the game at a time where we needed somebody to step up and make a play. The thing I'm proud of our kids for doing is that they stayed with it, kind of worked through the kinks and at this point, a win is a win."

Field finished with 14 points despite facing a stifling Trinity zone that gave the Cardinals (1-0) problems in the first half. Marie Laplante added seven points for Bishop Guertin and Meghan Donovan added six.

Maddy Haynes led the Pioneers (0-1) with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and the freshman had a look at another 3 from the top of the key in the final seconds, but her contested shot was off the mark.

Shannon Roberge added 10 points and Liz Graveline chipped in with eight for Trinity, which led by as many as 11 points in the first half, as the Pioneers held Bishop Guertin to eight points through nearly 13 minutes to start the game.

"We went with a zone and we did a nice job," Trinity coach Kevin Gibbs said. "We forced them to take outside shots and they weren't hitting them. We wanted to take away the inside stuff and make them shoot from the outside. They’re not an exceptional outside shooting team.

"They wanted to transition and run and we took them out of it and forced them to try to work for shots. When you run high-low and you’ve got that much size – and we were outsized for more of the night – you're going to sneak in for baskets."

The Cardinals started to at the end of the first half, as two baskets by Field and two free throws from Donovan gave Bishop Guertin a 6-0 run to end the half and make it a 20-17 Trinity lead.

The Pioneers were able to hang on to that lead for most of the third quarter, finding ways to keep the lead every time the Cardinals cut it down to one possession. But after a 3 by Haynes gave Trinity a 27-21 lead, Bishop Guertin went on an 7-0 run, taking the lead on a jumper by Laplante with 1:35 left in the quarter.

Graveline was fouled just before the end of the quarter and made one of two free throws to tie the game at 28, but the Cardinals scored the first two baskets of the fourth to go up 32-28. Another 3 by Haynes made it a one-point game, 32-31 with 4:13 left, but the four-point possession by Field and Cramb put the Cardinals up five.

"We worked on it but we didn't execute real well," Kreick said of the Cardinals' offense against the zone. "We didn't move the ball that great. We had to work through the kinks. Once we got comfortable and made some very minor adjustments, started getting the ball in the short corner and the high post and not settle for jump shots, we broke it down a little. Abbi Field did a fantastic job being big down on the block."

The Pioneers got a scare with a little more than a minute to play, when Hannah Fabiano stole the ball and started a break the other way. Her attempt at a layup was off the mark and she landed awkwardly against the stage inside the Trinity gym, going down holding her left ankle. Gibbs said after the game it was just a low ankle sprain.