Bishop Guertin girls basketball stifles Winnacunnet to advance to D1 title game (video)

MANCHESTER - The Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team may press from start to finish, but the Cardinals don't always expect results to come right away.

Thursday night's Division I semifinal against Winnacunnet was no different.

No. 1 Bishop Guertin put on the pressure from the start, but the Cardinals weren't able to get any separation from the No. 4 Warriors until early in the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals went on a 6-0 early in the quarter to take a seven-point lead and Bishop Guertin made its free throws down the stretch for a 46-34 win over Winnacunnet. Bishop Guertin will play in the championship game for the first time since 2013, where it will again face No. 2 Bedford.

"We've told the kids all year long, we like to play an uptempo game," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick said. "We like to run. You may not see the results of that kind of pace in the first 16 or even 24 minutes. More often than not, if you just keep coming, you'll wear people out. I think that's been something we've done all year long."

The Cardinals (20-1) forced Winnacunnet into 18 turnovers, 11 of which came in the second half, and as a team, recorded 11 steals.

Meghan Cramb led the scoring for the Cardinals with 10 points, while Marie Laplante had nine points and five steals. Caroline Hoffer added nine points, five of which came in the closing minutes of the first half that helped Bishop Guertin take a 24-20 lead into halftime after Cramb and Abbi Field sat most of the half in foul trouble.

Bishop Guertin also got big first-half minutes off the bench from Rachel Marion, Meghan Donovan and Meagan Morelli.

"They did that in the last game, too," Cramb said. "It was great that our team comes off the bench and is ready to go, is ready to work hard. Our whole bench came to play. Everybody is ready to go in and has pretty much the same amount of skill."

Bishop Guertin had eight players contribute at least 11 minutes and all but one scored.

"We've had an informal rule that if you get two fouls in the first half, you have to sit down," Kreick said. "We feel like we have enough depth that we can sit kids down and try to enter second halves without trying to be in any real foul trouble.

"Abbi picked up two in the first few minutes. Morelli, Donovan, Marion, they played huge minutes in the first half. We're not a one or a two, or even a five, person team. We've been fortunate to go nine or 10 deep. This was a great example of that."

Meg Knollmeyer led the Warriors (17-4) with 18 points, 15 of which came in the first half, and she grabbed 10 rebounds. Kaya Cadagan added 10 points and five boards for Winnacunnet, while Kathleen Valcich contributed seven assists.

The game featured 10 lead changes and six ties through the first three quarters, with Bishop Guertin taking a 32-29 lead into the fourth quarter.

Knollmeyer started the scoring in the final frame, drawing the Warriors within a point with a layup with 7:42 left to play. But the Cardinals responded with a 6-0 run, getting three points each from Cramb and Molly Dee, to go up 38-31, and force Winnacunnet to use a timeout.

A free throw by Emily Britton pulled Winnacunnet within six points, but after the teams traded empty possessions, Field hit a jump shot to put Bishop Guertin up eight, 40-32, with 3:56 to play. Cadagan made it a six-point game with 2:17 left and the Warriors elected to start fouling after that.

Hoffer, Cramb and Laplante each hit a pair of free throws down the stretch, as the Cardinals were 6 of 6 at the line, and the Warriors were unable to keep pace at the other end.