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# Concord girls basketball survives Goffstown come back to pick up win (video)
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/concord-girls-basketball-survives-goffstown-come-back-to-pick-up-win-video/
- Published: 2022-01-26T17:00:16.000Z
- Updated: 2022-01-26T17:00:16.000Z
- Description: GOFFSTOWN - There was only one thing Tim LaTorra had to say to his Concord High School girls basketball team. Up by one with 76 seconds left in Tuesday night's game against Goffstown, the Crimson Tide just turned the ball over on an offensive foul, and the only message the coach had for his players
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Concord, girls basketball, Goffstown, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

GOFFSTOWN - There was only one thing Tim LaTorra had to say to his Concord High School girls basketball team.

Up by one with 76 seconds left in Tuesday night's game against Goffstown, the Crimson Tide just turned the ball over on an offensive foul, and the only message the coach had for his players was to keep playing to win.

Concord did just that, blocking a pair of Goffstown shots and forcing two others that were off the mark during that final stretch, as the Tide held on for a 42-39 win over the Grizzlies in a Division I contest.

Sofia Payne blocked two shot attempts by Ava Ruggiero, and Delaney Duford and Jaylyn Jefferson each hit a free throw in the final 25 seconds to give Concord (11-3) the final margin of victory. Duford also led the Tide with 10 points, including three 3-pointers, while Elizabeth Blinn and Rosemary Layton each had nine points.

"Play to win, don’t play to not lose," LaTorra said of what he told his players. "When we defend, we’re at our best. We very well could have folded and collapsed, as much as it looked like we were going to in the fourth quarter. We held together. The chemistry on this team allows them to keep playing throughout any adversity."

Concord had led by 15 points, 36-21, going into the fourth quarter, but for the second night in a row, Goffstown (7-4) rallied from a double-digit deficit in the final eight minutes only to come up short. The Grizzlies lost in over to Portsmouth on Monday.

"Came out not great," Goffstown coach Steve Largy said. "The start of the game, this is probably three or four games in a row now, it hasn’t been up to our standard in terms of how we started. We weren’t settled at all. If we can play that way in the last eight minutes of the game, there’s no reason we can’t in the first 24."

Maggie Sasso and Ava Winterburn each had nine points to lead Goffstown while Ruggiero and Lilly Trnka added seven points each. Both teams struggled to shoot all night, including from the free throw line, where the Grizzlies were 9 of 18 and the Tide shot just 6 of 17.

Concord took an 18-13 lead into halftime, and after the teams traded baskets early in the third quarter, the Tide closed out the frame with an 11-3 run, highlighted by back-to-back driving layups by Layton that seemed to swing all the momentum to Concord.

"I’m so proud of her, she works so hard," LaTorra said of Layton. "One thing we’ve been trying to develop with her is her ability to get to the basket. Everyone knows she can shoot, but she’s got to find a way to get to the basket. I’ve seen it the last couple of games, but (Tuesday) was the first time I saw her really looking to the basket and score, not just hope it doesn’t get blocked or kick it out."

But whatever momentum the Tide had created didn't last long in the fourth, as a 3 by Ruggiero and a transition basket by Lilly Green in the first minute cut the lead to 10 points and forced LaTorra to use a timeout.

Winterburn made it a 6-0 run, and after a basket by Layton, the Goffstown junior scored off a putback and a three-point play in transition to cut the lead to 38-33 with 4:39 remaining. The Grizzlies got within three, 40-37, on a transition 3 by Meredith Winterburn with 2:23 to play, and Trnka hit a runner off an inbounds play to get Goffstown within one with 1:45 remaining.

But with a couple of opportunities to take the lead, and then to tie it after Duford's free throw, the Grizzlies were unable to take advantage.

"They’re a really good halfcourt defensive team," Largy said. "They’ve got a lot of length and they do a lot of things really well. There were certain things that just weren’t going to be there. That’s the execution piece. We have to figure out how to execute our offense just a little better.

"Our transition game is really good. We haven’t had a ton of practice time to recalibrate on the offensive end, so we’re doing it on the fly. Hopefully games like this give us that experience, where we’re going to be able to do this in the playoffs and execute better."