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# Lebanon girls basketball overcame adversity to win D2 championship
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/lebanon-girls-basketball-overcame-adversity-win-d2-championship/
- Published: 2017-03-13T19:30:58.000Z
- Updated: 2017-03-13T19:30:58.000Z
- Description: When the season began, the Lebanon High School girls basketball team had hopes for another run to a championship. The Raiders had returned to the Division II semifinals in 2016 with a young group of players, and with that core returning, another trip seemed like a strong possibility. But in the seco
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, championship, girls basketball, Lebanon, NH High School Sports Insider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

When the season began, the Lebanon High School girls basketball team had hopes for another run to a championship.

The Raiders had returned to the Division II semifinals in 2016 with a young group of players, and with that core returning, another trip seemed like a strong possibility.

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But in the second game of the regular season, those championship aspirations appeared to take a hit, when senior captain Meredith Melendy went down with a season-ending knee injury.

"Off the bat, we lose some offense," Lebanon coach Tim Kehoe said of how the loss of Melendy affected the team. "She is a leader on the team, a three-year starter and a great scorer. They rallied around her and played some great basketball."

With one of their leaders sidelined for the season, the Raiders refocused themselves to give that extra effort that Melendy would have been giving on the court.

"I think it made us work harder," Lebanon senior Joslin Wainwright said. "Meredith has been working for this her whole life, it's all she's ever wanted and it sucks for her to come out the second game of senior year. Let's play for Meredith. We immediately worked harder. It made our team closer."

With two players - Wainwright and freshman Becky Wright - checking in at over 6-feet tall, Kehoe and the Raiders coaching staff figured they needed to be a solid defensive team to make up for any shortcomings on offense. It paid of, as Lebanon captured the D2 title last Friday with a 44-35 win over Hollis Brookline.

"We decided, with the bigs we have, we'll be a great defensive team," he said. "Usually, from my experience, if you're a great defensive team, you can get to the final four."

On its way to an undefeated season (22-0), Lebanon never allowed more than 50 points to a division opponent, and only twice gave up more than 40, holding teams below that in the final 18 games, including playoffs.

In the regular season, the Raiders gave up an average of 29.7 points per game, and in the semifinals and final, they held their opponent well below their season average. Pelham (61.2 points per game) and Hollis Brookline (60.2) scored just 35 points against Lebanon's defense in the semifinals and championship game, respectively.

"These guys pride themselves on playing defense and they do a good job at it and they get right in your face," HB coach Bob Murphy said. "Part of it is that it's not just one player on you. When you're driving by that player, they've got very good help defense from the weak side."

With Melendy on the sideline, senior Josephine Brown stepped into the starting lineup for the Raiders and gave them another strong defensive player on the court. Often times, her responsibility was guarding the other team's leading scorer, and in the final, Brown helped hold HB's Cassandra Stapelfeld to 15 points.

"Josie Brown is a kid who barely got in last year and was a starter on this team and really contributed," Kehoe said. "She's a great character kid and she keeps fighting all the time."

On offense, sophomore Madeline Hastings stepped up at point guard, helping find ways for Lebanon to get the ball inside to Wainwright and Wright.

"Maddie is the most underrated player on this team," Kehoe said. "She is the reason why we go all the time. She's a smart kid, she doesn't get a lot of credit because she's not in the box score, but she does all the little things right.

"A lot of times, she's a reason why Becky Wright scores 30 points in a night or Anna gets those open shots. She has done a great job for us all year. She is a hard-nosed point guard and I'll go to battle with her every day."

Kehoe will have a chance at another title with several of the girls that helped this year's team win one, as 10 players - including starters Hastings, Wright and Anna Wolke - will return next season.