Hanover girls basketball completes perfect season with win over Bow in D2 final (video)

DURHAM - The Hanover High School girls basketball team turned a lot of stellar performances throughout this season.

Given the stage the Marauders were on, coach Dan O'Rourke thought Sunday's Division II championship game might have been his team's best.

Top-seeded Hanover led from start to finish, dominating on both ends of the floor against No. 3 Bow, as the Marauders cruised to a 55-24 win over the Falcons at the University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gym. It was Hanover's second title in four years and the 31-point margin of victory was the most in a girls final since 2000, when a unified Nashua beat Portsmouth 70-33 in the Class L title game.

"I think we saved our best game for when it mattered," O'Rourke said. "We shot the ball extremely well (Sunday) and we've been talking about, we've got to worry about us and we have to worry about playing our game.

"I've never had a year like this. We're undefeated and every game we're winning by double digits, and that's just unheard of."

Hanover (21-0) got 19 points Stella Galanes, as she went 4 of 6 from behind the 3-point line, and also had four rebounds. Melissa Whitmore was also in double figures with 13 points to go with nine rebounds while Jane Lackley had six points and 11 boards.

As a team, the Marauders shot 50 percent from the field and from 3, while outrebounding Bow, 40-23, and holding the Falcons to 22.4 percent shooting.

"Defense and rebounding, for sure, I think that was our biggest key," Galanes said. "They're a team that really relies on their putbacks, so we knew if we could cut those down as much as we could, we would have good success."

Alex Larrabee led Bow (19-3) with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Juliette Tarsa came off the bench to scored four points. Isabella LaPerle finished with three points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The Falcons never led, as Galanes hit the second of two free throws 55 seconds into the game and Whitmore followed with a basket to give Hanover a 3-0 lead less than two minutes into the opening quarter.

The Marauders led just 7-0 when Lyndsey LaPerle hit a 3-pointer with 1:46 left in the first to get Bow on the board. But Whitmore answered with a 3 at the other end and Lackley followed with a layup to put Hanover up 12-3.

Larrabee scored to end the first quarter and a basket by Sidney Roberge got Bow within 15-9 with just over five minutes left in the second.

But Hanover blew the game open from there, ending the half with a 11-1 run to take a 26-10 lead into the break.

In the third quarter, Galanes and Whitmore started getting open shots from the outside and combined to make 4 of 6 3-pointers in the quarter. Hanover outscored Bow 20-6 in the frame to take a 46-16 lead into the fourth.

"Because Jane (Lackley) was having a good game, she drove and dished, and we kept saying attack the middle and kick it out to our shooters," O'Rourke said. "That's how Melissa got wide open looks, that's how Stella got wide open looks. So credit to the other kids who were able to penetrate and then find the open shooters."

After coming up short the last two years, getting to this point was a long time coming.

"Melissa was the only one who was on the 2019 championship team, so this has been three years in the making for the rest of us," Galanes said. "It's been an incredibly journey and I think we came in with a real fire this year. We just kept pushing and getting better."