Hollis Brookline girls basketball beats Hanover to return to D2 title game

MANCHESTER - Brodie Kelley thought that if the Hollis Brookline High School girls basketball team could go into Tuesday's Division II semifinal and play the way its capable of playing, things would be just fine.

After a slow start, the Cavaliers were able to play the game they wanted to, with the HB junior leading the way.

Kelley led the third-seeded Cavs on offense and defense in the first half, and HB stifled No. 7 Hanover's interior game to beat the Marauders 52-37 at Southern New Hampshire University. For the second year in a row, the Cavs will play for the D2 title, where they will face No. 13 John Stark on Friday at 7 p.m. at SNHU.

"We worked so hard this season, to work on staying consistent," Kelley said. "We were playing well as a team and working together. Last year when we played here, we knew we had to be super aggressive on defense and take those chances and it’s going to pay off."

Kelley led all scorers with 18 points, 12 of which came in the first half, while also adding seven steals, six rebounds and four assists. Joanna Balsamo added a double double, recording 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Elizabeth Bonnette had nine points, seven boards and four blocks.

The Cavs (19-2) led in most statistical categories, shooting 42.9 percent from the field, getting 14 assists on 21 made field goals, while also outrebounding the Marauders 44-36. As a team, HB had 11 steals and nine blocks.

"Most of these kids can all put the ball in the basket, any one of them from anyplace on the floor, and they did," HB coach Bob Murphy said. "Joanna could be there one night, Brodie could be there one night, Bonnette could be there one night. She was outstanding at the beginning of the game, both under the basket rebound and shooting from the outside. We’ve got a lot of weapons, which is nice to have."

Lois Schwarz led Hanover (15-6) with 13 points, including 3 of 9 from behind the 3-point line, and Bella Bardales added eight points while Taylor Frances came off the bench to add six points and 13 rebounds.

But with HB sitting in a 2-3 zone defense for the entire game, the Marauders struggled to get quality looks inside and shot just 25 percent from the field.

"We talked about stopping them under the basket," Murphy said. "They try to attack a 2-3 zone underneath the basket. We slowed that down, took that away, and now they had to rely on their outside shots, and they just don’t have the outside shooters. That got us the lead and we kept playing that good solid defense."

It took a little while for the defense to get going, as Hanover led 9-4 on a basket by Bardales with 3:45 to play in opening quarter. But the Cavs were able to hold the Marauders scoreless for the rest of the quarter while Kelley scored five straight points to tie the game and a free throw by Balsamo gave HB a 10-9 lead after one.

Hanover retook the lead on a basket by Julia Golder, but was short lived, as Bonnette answered with a 3-pointer at the other end to put the Cavs up 13-11. HB pushed the lead up to six points on a jumper by Elizabeth Atkinson, but Hanover cut it back down to three points in the final minute. A 3-pointer by Kelley with 32 seconds left in the half made it 24-18 at the break.

A 3-pointer by Christina Balsamo to end the third quarter gave the Cavs an 11-point lead going into the fourth, and it looked like HB might start to pull away, but a 3 by Schwarz made it a 43-33 game with 6:08 left.

But that would be the last field goal the Marauders would make, as Hanover was 0 for 10 the rest of the way.

HB will play for the program's first title on Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 13 John Stark, a team the Cavs didn't face during the regular season.

"It feels really good," Kelley said. "Last year, I thought we were all super nervous and now a lot of us have the experience of being here in the final, so I think that will help us a lot. We still have to come out and play hard and give it all we have."