Defense leads Bow girls basketball past Hollis Brookline in D2 quarterfinals

BOW – Phil Davis knows that no matter where the Bow High School girls basketball team is playing, it’s defense is going to go with it.

Because of that, no matter how the Falcons are shooting on offense, they’ll be in every game.

Saturday’s Division II quarterfinal was no different, as No. 3 Bow put pressure on No. 6 Hollis Brookline right from the start and finally got the offense going in the third quarter on the way to a 53-29 win.

The Falcons will take on No. 2 Pembroke in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Sanborn High School. The Spartans were the last team to beat Bow, back on Dec, 27, and the Falcons have won 16 in a row since.

“We know what we are offensively, so we pride ourselves on playing great defense,” Davis said. “We had a conversation about our help defense and all of the girls bought in. They bought in throughout the year. We score on the lower side, but we hold teams to lower than what they’re used to scoring as well.”

Bow (18-2) also figured out a way to stifle Elisabeth Stapelfeld, HB’s leading scorer, holding the senior to just nine points. Sophomore Sidney Roberge did the large bulk of work against Stapelfeld, with Lyndsey LaPerle and Bella LaPerle helping out as well.

“Stapelfeld, as far as I’m concerned, is probably the player of the year,” Davis said. “She’s had an incredible high school career, but I’m fortunate that I have some girls who can match up with her and we faceguarded her. We tried to give her no air, because if you give her a little bit of air, it helps everybody else.

Alex Larabee led the Falcons with 19 points and Jessica Chamberlin finished with 12 points, as Bow outscored HB (14-5) 18-2 in the third quarter to turn what was a two-point game at halftime in a comfortable advantage.

“They get up and down the court really well,” HB coach Bob Murphy said. “I was trying to get a motion-type offense, and we worked on this for the last few days, pass and cut and do that three or four times and then look for an opening or a defensive mistake. We didn’t give the opportunity for that to happen. We go down, make one pass, take on shot, too many times.”

Early on, it looked like the Cavaliers might not get many opportunities for shots, as they struggled to break the Falcons’ press and turned the ball over before reaching halfcourt.

HB was eventually able to break the pressure, but Bow ended the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 14-6 lead into the second. The Cavs were able to get within two points late in the first half, but a basket by Larabee going into the break made it a 20-16 lead for the Falcons.

“We turned it over a bunch in the first half and were still only down by four,” Murphy said. “We kept trying to say we’ve got to protect the basketball and one way to do it is to move the ball around. They were doing a great job of doing that.”

But in the third quarter, those miscues were too much for the Cavs to overcome and the Falcons took full advantage.

HB turned the ball over seven times in the quarter and scored just one field goal, as Bow opened the second half with 12 straight points.

“The good thing for us, whether we’re home, whether we’re neutral, whether we’re away, we know our defense is going to show up every single night,” Davis said. “The ball doesn’t always go through the hoop, but defensive is effort and I’m fortunate that I have eight or nine girls who are willing to play defense.”