Gilford girls basketball holds off Fall Mountain to return to D3 championship (video)

MANCHESTER - If the Gilford High School girls basketball team was going to keep its undefeated season going, the Golden Eagles knew something had to change.

During halftime of Wednesday's Division III semifinal against Fall Mountain at Southern New Hampshire University, the coaches worked on tweaking the game plan, while the team's eight seniors asked each other an important question.

"We've got eight seniors on this team, do you want it to be your last game?" Gilford senior Madison Harris said of the halftime discussion. "No, so let's go run our hearts out and we really had to pick it up rebounding and just outrun them. The halftime gave us a second to catch our breath and get fresh legs."

No. 2 Gilford was able to keep pace with No. 6 Fall Mountain in the second half, and when crunch time hit, the Eagles experience paid off, as they pulled away from a 53-46 win. Gilford returns to the championship game for the second year in row, and will face No. 4 Laconia, which upset top-seeded Conant, in the final at 4 p.m. Saturday  at SNHU.

Harris scored 12 of her game-high 18 points in the first half and also grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Gilford (21-0), while Brooke Beaudet scored all but one of her 14 points in the second half.

"(Beaudet) didn't shoot well in the first half, and that’s uncharacteristic of her," Gilford coach Rick Forge said. "Whether it was nerves, or just her being a young player, it happens. We played to the end and had faith in her in the second half. She came through. I thought she was key down the stretch for us.

"If they were going to start keying on Brooke and the outside shooting, then Maddy Harris had to have a big game. She's not really that big, yet she was quick enough inside that she posed some matchup problems for them. She hit big shots. She kept us in the game in the first half."

The Eagles also made an adjustment on defense to try to slow down the Wildcats (17-4), who were able to get out in transition in the second quarter. Fall Mountain held an 18-9 scoring edge and led at halftime, 26-23.

Sophie Bushey led the Wildcats with 12 points, going 4 of 17 from behind the 3-point line, while Ella Steward had nine points and 11 rebounds. Fall Mountain held a 45-38 edge on the boards, including 29-16 in the second half.

But after shooting 43.5 percent in the first 16 minutes, the Wildcats were just 6 of 32 in the final 16.

"The second half we changed our defense," Forge said. "That was it. We changed the defense. We tend to run the floor better out of the defense we had going in the second half, and it took enough away from them. It didn't take it all away, but it took enough away.

"Give Fall Mountain credit, we'd go up by three or four and they'd come down and hit a big 3. We'd do it again, and they'd hit another big 3. They're a good team, a good shooting team."

The Wildcats led 41-39 with under six minutes to play, but turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions. The Eagles took advantage, going on a 6-0 run to take a 45-41 lead.

After Fall Mountain got within two on a jumper by Zoey Loupa (eight points) with 3:19 left, Gilford answered on a basket by Jordan Dean and a three-point play from Beaudet to take its largest lead, 50-43.

"We were a little bit inside their heads in the fourth quarter," Harris said. "When we got that lead, they panicked. We kept the ball out front and dribbled around. I think our experience definitely helped with that."

But when the Wildcats started fouling, the Eagles struggled from the free throw line, going 1 of 5, including the front of two one-and-ones, before Beaudet hit two with 12 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

The championship-game appearance is just the third for Gilford, which one its only title (Class M) in 2009.