Goffstown girls basketball adjusting well to jump to D1

NASHUA - Olivia Brannen got the ball and knew there wasn't much time left for the Goffstown High School girls basketball team to make a play.

With the Grizzlies trailing Merrimack by two points in the final minute of Thursday's opener at the Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament, Brannen let fly a 3-pointer that splashed through the basket to put Goffstown up one.

At the other end, the Grizzlies' defense was up to the task and Goffstown escaped the first day of the tournament with a 34-33 win and will play Nashua North in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday at Nashua High School South.

It was Goffstown's second win over Merrimack in the last two weeks, but more importantly, it was the kind of game that the Grizzlies would have likely lost a year ago.

"Honestly, I don’t think we would have won that game last year," Brannen, a junior, said. "We’ve grown so much individually and as a team. We really didn’t play that well, but the fact we pulled through in the end really shows how much heart and how strong we are as a team."

It also showed Goffstown has more offensively than just junior Kelly Walsh, who had 16 points to lead all scorers on Thursday.

"All five of the kids we start can shoot the basketball," Goffstown coach Steve Largy said. "It’s a lot of the same kids that we had last year in terms of our offensive production. We have that back.

"(Walsh) grew into (the leadership role) later in the year and obviously, she’s a very great player. This year, she’s just worked so hard in the offseason, she hit the ground running and I think we’re starting to get Brannen going. When we get them both off, we’re going to be good. Emma Strong is going to be a great player for us, she’s a great outside shooter."

The Grizzlies are off to a 4-0 start in their first season in Division I, and while the teams they've beaten are a combined 4-8, all four are perennial playoff teams.

It's a start that in some ways has surprised Goffstown, but not entirely.

"I thought moving into D1, bigger schools, they’d have a lot more girls trying out for their teams, and I thought our first couple of games, it’d be a rough start," Walsh said. "We came out ready to play and it has turned out really well."

Largy feels that the cohesion among the girls, and the fact that he's now in his second year coaching the varsity team, has played a big factor in the fast start. It's a long way from where Goffstown was a year ago, when the Grizzlies were off to a 1-3 start heading into this tournament.

"We came into this thing really figuring things out," Largy said. "I think the way things have started this year, we have continuity from that standpoint, too. We know what we’re doing offensively and what we’re trying to be doing. That makes it easier.

"They’re just more familiar with me. The trust is a mutual thing, both players and coaches. So far it’s been good, but I think it’s been good because they’re willing and receptive and they work hard."

While Walsh and Brannen have played together going back to second grade, the majority of the team won a couple of championships in middle school.

"We have 10 juniors on our team and we’ve played together since we were in fifth grade," Walsh said. "We ran the same plays. It’s helped that we’ve come up together and we click together."

What that eventually means for the Grizzlies this season remains to be seen, as Goffstown won't play some of the division's stronger teams - including last year's semifinalists Pinkerton (Jan 25), Bedford (Feb. 1) and Bishop Guertin (Feb. 21) - until the second half of the season.

Until then, Goffstown will keep trying to get better and show that it belongs in D1.

"Coach is always reminding us that even when we play well there are always things you can work on," Brannen said. "No one plays perfectly. We know the things we have to work on and continue to work on. At practice, we go hard and get better at those things."