Handful of teams aiming for a shot at the D1 girls basketball title

There’s clearly a top tier in Division I girls basketball, but there’s no clear favorite at the top as the tournament opens on Tuesday.

“I think there are probably four or five teams that have a legitimate shot at winning this thing, and that’s a little different than the last handful of years,” said Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick, whose Cardinals had won five straight titles before finishing runner-up to Bedford last season, “but I think that’s a great thing.”

Top-seeded Pinkerton (16-1), No. 2 Bedford (16-2) and No. 5 BG (15-3) are the three teams to beat, and they’re all 1-1 against each other, while No. 3 Portsmouth (16-2) and No. 4 Concord (15-3) are dark horse contenders. Of course none of those teams want to look too far down the playoff road. They’re all trying to focus on their first-round matchup, or quarterfinal matchup in the case of Pinkterton and Bedford, which have byes.

“Right now every game is a game that matters, so we’re preparing that way,” Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs said. “The team is very focused. The vast majority of them were on the court for the win last year and they liked it and they would like to be there for that opportunity again at UNH (site of the Feb. 20 final), but they also know there’s work to be done between now and then and they’re committed to doing that work.”

The Bulldogs put in some time during a Saturday scrimmage at Bow, the No. 3 seed in D2. Bedford lost its championship-rematch with BG in the season opener on Dec. 10, 50-43, but since then the Bulldogs only other loss came against another D2 team Hanover, 66-58, on Jan. 15, a game that was scheduled with the postseason in mind.

“We knew Hanover played the type of game that we would need to get us ready to compete with the iron of Division I, mainly Pinkerton and BG, and it did because we turned around and nine days later we beat Pinkerton at Pinkerton,” Gibbs said.

Bedford relied heavily on Isabella King during last year’s title run. King, the 2021 D1 Player of the Year, is playing at Bucknell University now, but Gibbs believes taking away the crutch of having King has made this group of Bulldogs stronger.

They still have a dominant inside presence in sophomore Lana McCarthy (team-high 13.4 points per game), and a supremely talented wing in freshman Kate Allard (11.7 ppg), but they’ve had four other players lead them in scoring this season and have gotten steady contributions from Emma Kasyjanski (6.7 ppg), Saphia Mumpini (6.4 ppg), Catherine Penick, Lyla Stein, Sydney Grogan and Devlyn McDonald.

“Kate and Lana give us the foundation, but the contribution from a lot of other kids is critical,” Gibbs said.

The Bulldogs will play the winner of No. 10 Alvirne (10-8) at No. 7 Goffstown (10-7) in Friday’s quarterfinal, and they will be in the stands on Tuesday at Goffstown to get a scouting report.

“Every kid will have eyes on it so when we’re talking about it in practice they’ll have their own video reel in their mind,” Gibbs said.

Bishop Guertin’s three losses may have dropped the Cardinals to the No. 5 seed, but two of those losses were against out-of-state teams Wachusett and Dracut. BG’s only setback in New Hampshire came on Jan. 20 at Pinkerton, 74-66.

As expected, junior guards Olivia Murray (12.9 ppg), Brooke Paquette (11.3 ppg) and Catelyn Wheeler (9.6 ppg) have led the Cardinals in scoring this season, but sophomore wing Hanna Lynch (7.7 ppg) has, “made huge, huge strides since last year and has become one of our key defensive kids,” Krieck said. Another sophomore, 6-2 Brooke Mueller, has also started to come on late in the season. She had 14 points and nine rebounds in an eye-opening 53-21 win at Portsmouth on Feb. 2.

“That was kind of a breakout performance for her at Portsmouth,” said Kreick, who also added, “that was one of our better defensive performances from start to finish all year long.”

Playing that kind of defense will be critical for BG, which opens the tournament with a first round home game against No. 12 Manchester Memorial (8-10) on Tuesday.

“As long as we’re taking good looks and we’re defending and trying to control the tempo of the game, we’ll take our chances,” Kreick said.

The only blemish on Pinkerton’s record is the 62-58 loss to Bedford on Jan. 24 that Gibbs mentioned. The Astros rebounded from the defeat with three resounding wins, and coach Lani Buskey likes the space her team is in as the playoffs begin.

“The girls really wanted an undefeated season. I’m never going to say no to that, but that was never my aim,” Buskey said. “My aim is to make a deep run in the playoffs and win it all, but they took it hard in the moment, which I think is good because every competitor should not want to lose, but it kind of ignited a fire in them that we hadn’t seen yet. I have a really great team and they’re united anyway, but it brought them together even more.”

Like Bedford and BG, Pinkerton has a pair of young players in key roles – sophomore Liz Lavoie, who leads D1 in scoring at 16.6 ppg, and freshman point guard Sydney Gerossie (13.4 ppg). Those two love sharing the ball, as does senior leader Avah Ingalls (14.2 points per game), which makes the Astros tough to guard, especially in transition.

Health concerns ended Pinkerton’s 2020-21 season before the playoffs even began, so the Astros are extra motivated for this postseason.

“This is our redemption tour against COVID,” Buskey said. “We said it the other day at practice, I think we’ve done it, I think we’ve redeemed ourselves, but we know the true redemption comes when the playoffs start.”

Pinkerton will host the winner of Tuesday night’s No. 9 Dover (10-8) at No. 8 Merrimack (10-8) contest.

No team in D1 had a longer winning streak this year than Portsmouth, which won 15 straight before finishing its regular season with that 53-21 home loss to Bishop Guertin. The Clippers other defeat came by another lopsided score at home against another one of the top three – 60-39 against Pinkerton on Dec. 14. Against everyone else, the Clippers rolled, scoring 56.8 points per game and giving up 31.0 in their 16 wins. Portsmouth and top scorer Avery Romps (13.2 ppg) open with a first-round game against No. 14 Manchester Central, which was the last team to sneak into the tournament at 6-12.

And no team in D1 has a longer winning streak going into the tournament than No. 4 Concord, which won 10 straight to close the regular season. That run includes road wins at No. 6 Windham (56-43 on Jan. 27), at No. 7 Goffstown (42-39) and at No. 9 Dover (46-40 on Jan. 14). The Crimson Tide is clearly on a roll and the team has a reliable low-post threat in Elizabeth Blinn (13.9 ppg).

The doubts about Concord come from its showing against the other top teams – the Tide suffered big losses against Pinkerton (66-38 on Dec. 10), at Portsmouth (67-36 on Jan. 3) and against Bedford (71-29 on Jan. 12). Concord will start its postseason at home on Tuesday night against No. 13 Londonderry (8-10) and the Lancers leading scorer, Olivia Chau (15.6 ppg).

Tuesday’s other first-round matchup features No. 11 Exeter (8-10) at No. 6 Windham (11-7). Those two teams just played each other on Wednesday with Windham claiming a 58-49 win at home.