Hollis Brookline girls basketball knocks off John Stark to win first D2 championship

MANCHESTER - The unknown can be scary, and it was doubly so for the Hollis Brookline High School girls basketball team going into Friday night's Division II championship game.

Not only were the No. 3 Cavaliers facing a team they didn't see during the regular season, but No. 13 John Stark hadn't been playing like a team that had a .500 record going into the playoffs.

And while the Generals gave HB a scare, coming back from a 16-point deficit to take the lead in the third quarter, the Cavs focused on playing their game.

After regrouping before the end of the third, HB finished the game on a 10-1 run to come away with a 54-43 win over the Generals at Southern New Hampshire University. The title is the first in program history, after finishing second a year ago, and is the first for long-time coach Bob Murphy.

Joanna Balsamo led a balanced scoring attack for the Cavs (20-2), dropping in 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds, while Christina Balsamo had eight of her 14 points in the second half and Brodie Kelly had a double double with 12 points and 12 boards. The trio combined for 14 of HB's 15 points in the fourth quarter.

"We were able to get the lead back because of some key shots from some key players," Murphy said. "We have kids that can take the ball to the hoop. At that point in time (in the third quarter), our outside stuff wasn’t looking that good. I was asking them to take the ball to the hoop. You either going to get to the foul line or you’re going to get a chance at a shot. In some cases, we got both. We were also trying to pound it in to the low post players. That was working for us."

The Cavs outscored John Stark 34-8 in the paint and had 20 points off 14 turnovers by the Generals (12-10) while HB turned the ball over just three times.

"We work a lot on staying up the whole game, running the whole game," Kelley said. "I think that definitely helps. Once we got down to that final stretch, we had the lead and we knew we had to hold on to it. We did a good job of that."

Jillian Douzanis led the Generals with 13 points while Emily Patten had nine, going 3 of 4 from 3, and Autumn Nelson added eight points. John Stark stayed in the game in part by going 6 of 17 from behind the 3-point line through the first three quarters, but in the fourth, the Generals were just 1 of 12 from the field, including 0 of 5 from 3.

"These guys knocked off a couple of tough teams," Murphy said of John Stark. "They just had so much balance, so much patience. They had a good group of kids, they all could shoot, they all could take 3s. They just had a good balanced attack. It was a tough matchup for us."

The Generals got off to a tough start, turning the ball over on each of their first five possessions. The first came on an over-and-back off the opening tip, and Elizabeth Atkinson scored for the first points of the game.

John Stark turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and Christina Balsamo hit a 3 to give the Cavs a 5-0 lead 21 seconds into the game. Jonanna Balsamo made it 7-0 moments later, as HB started the game with 14-4 run.

A 3-pointer by John Stark's Laura Martin made it 14-7 going into the second quarter, but the Cavs went on a 9-0 run to take a 23-7 lead, their largest of the game. A layup by Kelley made it 27-13 with 2:20 left in the half, but Patten answered at the other end with a 3-pointer and Anna Stenger hit a pair of jumpers to help cut HB's lead to 11 points at the break.

The Generals came out with a 9-0 run to start the second half and make it a 31-29 HB lead before Murphy took a timeout. Atkinson scored out of the break, but John Stark extended its run to 16-4, taking a 36-35 lead on two free throws by Douzanis with 2:48 to go in the quarter.

"When we went to straight man-to-man (defense to start the half), they started hitting their outside shots and drives," Joanna Balsamo said. "We gathered our thoughts, took a step back, and buckled down on defense. We had to be patient and that would get us the win.

"There was so much time. I knew we got up big in the beginning, so I knew we could do it again."

Baskets by Atkinson and Christina Balsamo put HB up two, 39-37, going into the fourth quarter and a three-point play by Balsamo gave the Cavs a seven-point lead with 6:20 left.

But the Generals weren't going away, as Nelson answered with a three-point play of her own, and then hit two free throws to cut the lead back to two, 44-42, with 5:48 to go.

A pair of layups by Kelley and Joanna Balsamo, sandwiched around a free throw by Woodsum, out the Cavs up five and Murphy took a timeout with 4:05 to go.

"I asked them ‘do you want to stall?’" the coach said. "It’s got to be a group effort. They ran the clock out really well. The other team had a tough time trying to foul us because we were moving the ball so well.

"We’ve done that before, but it’s a big difference when it’s on a venue like this. You’re in the championship game and the other team is going to try to get the ball back. You make one turnover and all of sudden it’s a three-point play at the other end and the game starts to get a little closer. It didn’t happen. I’m excited about how they held their composure."

John Stark wouldn't score again and the Cavs made enough free throws to put some distance between the teams.

And in the program's third title-game appearance - HB also was the runner-up in the Class M final in 1973 - the Cavs, and Murphy, finally get to go home with the championship plaque.

"I’ve been coaching girls basketball since 1991," Murphy said. "You hope to get to the varsity level and that happened in 2000. Since then, you’re always trying to get here. You’re always looking to get to that No. 1 spot. I’m thrilled for the kids. I’ve finally got a team that finished No. 1 and I’m pretty happy about it."