Hopkinton girls basketball shuts down Gilford to advance to D3 championship game

MANCHESTER – Pat Roye had a plan, and a backup plan, and a backup plan for the backup plan.

The way that the Hopkinton High School girls basketball team played Wednesday night, he didn’t need any of them.

The Hawks coach came up with a handful of ways to try to slow down Gilford’s offense, but Hopkinton took care of the job early, getting the Eagles out of rhythm from the start.

No. 2 Gilford was never able to getting going and No. 6 Hopkinton cruised to a 49-25 win over the Eagles in the Division III semifinals at Southern New Hampshire University. The win means the Hawks will play for their first title since winning Class M in 2003, where they will face No. 5 Conant at 4 p.m. Saturday.

"We had a bunch of stuff in the tank and we didn’t have to go to any of it," Roye said. "I’m so happy for them because they work harder than any team I’ve had in a long time,They do everything you ask them to do. It’s just a special group."

Taylor Signor led the way for Hopkinton (19-4), scoring 14 of her 17 points in the second half, including two 3-pointers in the third quarter that thwarted a Gilford comeback. Maurgan McGrath added 12 points, eight in the first half, while Amelia Thomas had 10 points and Abby Houston recorded six points and 15 rebounds.

As a team, Hopkinton dominated the boards, outrebounding the Eagles 40-23, and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds.

And a the other end of the floor, the Hawks held Gilford to just 7 of 34 from the field, including 1 of 12 from behind the 3-point line.

"We know who their two best players are," Signor said. "We’ve practiced and watched film, we studied what they do and we know they shoot from deep. They hit one (in the second half) and then we shut it back down."

Lauren Dean had nine points for Gilford (18-3) while Shelby Cole and Hannah Perkings each scored five points. Brooke Beaudet had just three points, with her lone field goal a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

"It just wasn’t our night," Gilford coach Rick Forge said. "Poor shooting to start, when you don’t start off hitting the first couple of shots. The difference with our team is when we hit the first couple of shots in the game, it gets us into a bit of a flow."

Hopkinton set the tone for the first half on the game’s first possession, getting three offensive rebounds before Thomas was fouled. The junior made both free throws, part of a 10-for-12 shooting performance by the Hawks, including all four of the team’s points in the second quarter.

"It’s kind of the way we play all the time," Roye said. "We don’t really shoot that well, but we play with heart and we really play hard. We don’t back down. They look at each game as an opportunity."

After going more than 10 minutes without a field goal, Thomas opened the second half with a 3-pointer for Hopkinton and then added two free throws to make it 25-10. A pair of free throws by Perkings gave Gilford its first points in almost six minutes, but Signor answered with a 3-pointer, and a few minutes later, the senior added another to give the Hawks a 31-12 lead.

"Taylor and I have been going back and forth for three years now that maybe she needs to be a little more aggressive offensively," Roye said. "She is a naturally unselfish player but when the game is on the line, she steps up."

Signor was 4 of 6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and added two baskets in the final minutes.

"There’s no tomorrow if you lose, so that’s kind of the mentality that we’ve had since the playoffs started," she said. "If we lose, us seniors are done."