Londonderry girls basketball comes back in 4th quarter to beat Bedford in D1 semis (video)

PORTSMOUTH - No adjustments or special plays were going to help the Londonderry High School girls basketball team in Monday's Division I semifinal against Bedford.

There were only two things the Lancers could fall back on if they were going to overcome a double-digit deficit: trust and tenacity.

Londonderry coach Jon Doherty trusted that senior Sammie Sullivan could play the final 12:36 of the game with four fouls. The tenacity came once the fourth quarter started, with the Lancers trailing by 11 points, and last all the way to the final buzzer.

Third-seeded Londonderry opened the final quarter with an 8-0 run, held No. 2 Bedford to just two points over the game's final four minutes, and came back to get a 46-45 win over the Bulldogs in the D1 semifinal at Portsmouth High School.

The win puts Londonderry in the title game for the second year in a row, where it will face top-seeded Concord Christian, which held off No. 5 Exeter in the other semifinal, at 4 p.m. Saturday at the University of New Hampshire.

“The girls never quit,” Doherty said. “The girls never gave up. I give them a ton of credit. We spent the last four days working on what we were going to do against these guys, and nothing else, and it paid off. They bought into it.”

Sullivan led Londonderry (18-3) with 18 points, including 6 for 8 at the free throw line, one of which was the game-winning foul shot with 2.2 seconds left. Brooke Eacrett added 14 points, including two 3-pointers, and Gemma Murray had five points, including a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t want to go home,” Sullivan said. “We didn’t want this to be our last game. I think just rallying on that ended up uniting us as a team. It’s such a great group of girls and we’re tightknit, so we just didn’t want this to be our last game.”

For the seniors, it's the first time their class beat Bedford's since eighth grade. The win also snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Bulldogs that dated back to 2016, and it ended Bedford's 59-game in-state winning streak.

And for three quarters, it looked like it wasn't going to happen.

After Londonderry scored the game's first basket, Bedford (18-3) led the rest of the first half, going up as many as 10 points. A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Annie Zink (14 points, four 3s) gave the Bulldogs a 27-18 lead at the half and almost devastated the Lancers.

“That was a big, gut-wrenching one right there,” Doherty said. “They hit some 3s that I was not expecting them to hit.”

But once in the locker room, the players moved past the moment.

“We knew it was only nine points,” Sullivan said. “We can come back from that. Three 3s and we’re back in the game. Our mindset was like new half, fresh start. We just need to come out on fire.”

It took until midway through the third for Londonderry to come alive, as Alana Lopriore and Eacrett hit back-to-back 3s to cut Bedford's lead to 31-26. But the Bulldogs answered with 3s by Mel McCarthy (12 points) and Zink to get the lead back to 11 points.

Down 39-28 to start the fourth, Eacrett opened the quarter with another 3 and a putback, followed by a three-point play by Sullivan, who had already been playing with four fouls for six minutes to that point.

“I didn’t know I had four fouls until the fourth quarter, but at that point, I was like I’ve got to lock in right now,” she said. “I can’t make any mistakes.”

It was never a question to Doherty whether Sullivan would come out of the game or not.

“I’ve got to trust her,” Doherty said. “She’s a four-year starter, the player of the year. I’ve got to let her go.”

Bedford got on the board in the quarter on a baskets by McCarthy and Zink to make it 43-36 Bulldogs with 4:06 to play. But another three-point play by Sullivan and a 3 by Murray cut the lead to one with 2:45 remaining.

Londonderry still had four fouls to give to get Bedford into the bonus, and the Bulldogs were able to run off a lot of the remaining time. With about 40 seconds left, Eva Zink found herself alone under the basket, but her layup attempt hit off the bottom of the rim and the Lancers got the ball and drew a foul with 35.6 seconds remaining.

Sullivan went to work at the other end, driving through three defenders to score and give the Lancers their first lead, 44-43, since the opening minutes.

A Bedford turnover on the inbounds pass gave Londonderry the ball back and Sullivan was fouled with 16.6 seconds remaining. After missing the first, she hit the second to make it a two-point lead, 45-43.

A corner 3 from Bedford's Juliet Laws (nine points) was no good, but Sarah Muir (eight points) was fouled on the rebound. The senior made both free throws to tie the game at 45, and it seemed like the teams were destined for overtime, but Eva Zink fouled Sullivan with 2.2 to play.

Sullivan again missed the first, but made the second to put the Lancers up one. Eacrett picked off the Bulldogs' inbound pass at midcourt and held on until the clock ran out, giving Londonderry the win.