> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Bishop Guertin girls basketball hangs on to hand Manchester Memorial first loss - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bishop-guertin-girls-basketball-hangs-on-to-hand-manchester-memorial-first-loss/ - Published: 2020-01-22T15:45:21.000Z - Updated: 2020-01-22T15:45:21.000Z - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division I, Bishop Guertin, girls basketball, Manchester Memorial, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 MANCHESTER - When things started to get tough for the Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team Tuesday night, the Cardinals turned to two players who have plenty of experience setting them in the right direction. After Manchester Memorial had cut a 16-point halftime deficit down to five early in the fourth quarter, Addison Smith and Erin Carney took over for Bishop Guertin. The pair combined to score 16 straight points for the Cardinals, as they got the lead back up to double digits, and Bishop Guertin held off the Crusaders down the stretch for a 67-51 win in a Division I game. Carney finished with a game-high 28 points and Smith added 16 points, including 8 of 9 at the free throw line. As a team, Bishop Guertin (7-0) was 18 of 25 at the line, going 6 of 8 in the fourth quarter. "That’s a good basketball team, in a tough environment," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick said. "It was hard and we thought it was going to be hard. Kudos to (Memorial coach) Greg (Cotreau)'s kids for being down 16 at the half and not packing it in. They came out in the third quarter, punched us right upside the head, and we didn’t respond well to it. Then we eventually settled down and (Carney and Smith) kind of took over. That’s what proven, competitive kids do." The Crusaders (6-1) got 20 points from Tamrah Gould, including three 3-pointers, while Lyric Grumblatt had 19 points while going 10 of 11 at the line. Jennessa Brunette added nine points for Memorial, which outscored Bishop Guertin 17-4 over a six-plus minute stretch in the second half to make it a 47-42 game. "I can’t be more proud of them," Cotreau said. "We came in, we knew what to expect. I don’t think we turned the ball over a ton and we didn’t give them free points. We made them earn everything they got. "The thing that these girls proved to themselves was that they can play with a team like this. I think that was our thought coming in, can we do enough to play with them and how long can we hang around. We hung around the whole game." It wasn't all good news for the Cardinals, as they lost senior Aria O'Connell to a knee injury early in the second quarter. O'Connell got tangled up with Memorial's Paige Thibault while going for a rebound and came down awkwardly. "We’ll see what’s going on with Aria," Kreick said. "We just don’t know right now. Hopefully nothing serious, but we’ll know in a couple of days." The Cardinals were able to respond after the injury, extending the lead to 15 points midway through the second quarter. A 3 by Grumblatt and a basket by Brunette got Memorial back within 10, but Bishop Guertin ended the half with a 10-4 run to lead 37-21 at the break. A 3-pointer by Carney extended the lead to 18 points, 43-25, with 5:34 remaining in the third quarter, but the Crusaders answered with an 11-0 run to get within seven points. "We were down 16 at halftime and we said the first two or three minutes of the third were going to be critical," Cotreau said. "We’re either going to fight our way back or their going to put it away. We did an outstanding job chipping away and chipping away." The Cardinals got the lead back to 11 points, but the Crusaders cut it to seven by the end of the quarter, and a basket by Elizabeth Barrientos to open the fourth made it 47-42 with 7:12 to play. "We just had to defend," Kreick said. "We had breakdown after breakdown defensively, which is not like us. Not sure if we got flustered or what, but we had four or five possessions in a row where we just broke down. We told them the offensive stuff will be what it will be, you’ve got to buckle down defensively. We got some stops and things settled down." Smith was fouled on a putback and completed the three-point play and followed it up with a jumper to make it 52-42, forcing Memorial to take a timeout with 5:42 to go. After a pair of free throws by Grumblatt, Carney hit back-to-back layups to give the Cardinals a 56-44 lead before the Crusaders took another timeout, this time with 4:01 to play. Overall, Bishop Guertin outscored Memorial, 20-9, over the final seven minutes to put away the win.