Goffstown girls basketball holds on to beat Trinity

GOFFSTOWN - The Goffstown High School girls basketball team was in need of a big play.

With the outcome of Friday night's game against Trinity in the balance, Emily Peterson made one for the Grizzlies.

Peterson hit a 3-pointer with just over a minute to play and then hit two free throws to turn a one-point lead into six and Goffstown held off Trinity's late charge for a 59-51 win in a Division I game.

The Grizzlies (2-2) led for most of the second half, including a 50-40 advantage with four minutes remaining. But a defensive adjustment by the Pioneers and some cold shooting for Goffstown led to a 9-0 run by Trinity and a game that was all of a sudden coming down to the wire.

"I was thinking it was late in the game and I really wanted to step up for my teammates," Peterson said. "I hadn’t been hitting shots earlier. And I thought about the things Coach (Steve) Largy says to us about what to do in that situation."

Peterson finished with five points while sophomore Ava Winterburn led the way with 24 points before fouling out in the final minutes and Maggie Sasso added 22 points.

"Gritty kind of win and it’s going to have to be that way this year," Largy said. "We’re figuring out varsity basketball with kids who haven’t played a lot of minutes. There aren’t many different scenarios we’ve been in, like closing out a game and playing with a lead. When we played the right way, then things worked out."

Trinity (0-2) got 22 points from Achol Tour and Colby Guinta added 17 points, despite both getting into foul trouble. After falling to the Grizzlies, 55-41, on Wednesday, Pioneers coach Natalie Wilson felt her team showed improvement the second time around.

"We came out stronger," she said. "The girls worked better together. We definitely have improved since the first game against them (Wednesday). They executed more out of timeouts and that’s what we wanted to do."

A back-and-forth first quarter saw Goffstown take a 13-12 lead into the second, but a jumper by Devan Booth put Trinity in front 14-13. The Grizzlies answered with a 3 by Sasso, and they ended the half on a 9-1 run to lead 28-19 at halftime.

After Winterburn hit one of two free throws at the start of the second half, stretching the lead to 10, Trinity responded with a 10-0 run to tie it at 29. A putback by Tour made it a two-point game, and at the other end, her block on Goffstown's Noelle Simmons led to a jump shot by Guinta.

Trinity had a chance to take the lead after a steal by Booth, but the Pioneers turned it over and the Grizzlies went on a 7-0 run of their own, going up 36-29 on a 3 by Sasso. Trinity kept it close, but Goffstown took a 43-37 lead into the fourth and scored the first six points of the quarter to go up by 12, the Grizzlies' largest lead of the game.

"At different points in the fourth quarter, we were two different teams," Largy said. "We played well and looked great on some possessions, offensively and defensively.

"Then we took possessions off. We’d allow them to drive and would let up on (Tour). We took plays off and they were able to make a run. Offensively, we didn’t do anything out of sorts, we just had shots that didn’t go."

Those missed shots left the door open for Trinity and the Pioneers came through. A basket by Tour and two free throws by Booth made it a six points game with 2:45 remaining.

Guinta score a minute later to make it 50-46, and after a Goffstown turnover, the Trinity senior was fouled by Winterburn - her fifth of the game - on a jump shot and completed the three-point play to get the Pioneers within one with 1:36 to play.

"We changed up our defense," Wilson said. "We tried to force them to the outside and get a steal on the skip passes, which we did a couple of times. We threw a few defenses at them to see if they could react."

Another Goffstown turnover gave Trinity a chance to take the lead, but the Pioneers gave the ball right back, and with the Grizzlies in need to a basket, Peterson got an open look from the wing and nailed a 3.

"It’s big," Largy said. "We’re very thin when it comes to seniors. They haven’t had to be leaders. We’re putting more pressure on them to be a voice and pick the team up, be the culture we want them to be."

Simmons came up with a steal on Trinity's ensuing possession and Peterson ended up at the line for a one-and-one. She made both, as Goffstown put the game away by going 6 of 8 at the line in the final minute.