Manchester Central starts fast, finishes strong in win over Pinkerton (video)

DERRY - The first quarter couldn't have gone much better Thursday night for the Manchester Central High School girls basketball team.

But despite leading Pinkerton by 11 points after one frame, the Little Green were in for a roller-coaster finish.

The Astros came back in the second half, going up by six points with just under six minutes to play, but Central responded with a 12-0 run and held on for a 52-47 win over Pinkerton in the Division I season opener for both teams.

Destiny Jordan finished with a game-high 18 points, including a 3-pointer during the Little Green's game-clinching run, and Erin Flurey added 10 points, four of which came in the final 22 seconds, after the Astros had cut the lead to one.

"Our girls did a really nice job staying together," Central coach Mike Wenners said. "We came out and had a really good start. We got into foul trouble early, and I’ll put that on me. I have to do a better job with who had what for fouls.

"We had to recover and they did a nice job with it. I was really proud of them. It’s a new group together and we’re trying to learn how to play with each other. This was a nice first step."

Emily Greenwood added eight points for Central (1-0) before leaving with a left knee injury late in the game, while Bree Pietroniro-Hamilton chipped in with seven points.

Avah Ingalls had 11 of her 13 points in the second half to lead Pinkerton (0-1) and Allison Ingalls added eight points, but it wasn't enough, as the Astros trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half.

"It’s going to be pretty hard to beat teams when you play like that in the first half," Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey said. "It’s hard to dig yourself out of that. I thought Central was outhustling us and I think that bothered me the most. We had a talk at halftime and I was really proud of how they responded in the second half. I thought they showed a lot of character in their response to that."

Pinkerton got on the board first, but it was Central that jumped out to a 9-1 lead early, with Jordan scoring the first seven points for the Little Green. The senior finished with nine points in the first eight minutes and Central took a 15-4 lead after one.

The lead grew to 21-8 midway through the second but Pinkerton was able to get within eight by halftime, and after a 3-pointer by Greenwood to open the third quarter, the Astros went on an 11-0 run to tie the game at 28.

"They came out on fire and we stopped communicating," Wenners said. "I think a lot of that has to do with being new to playing with one another. We had two or three breakdowns where we were supposed to switch and we didn’t. They do such a good job of breaking you down on the offensive end when that happens, and that’s what they did."

A three-point play by Avah Ingalls gave Pinkerton a 33-30 lead with 3:55 left in the third, but Central went back in front on baskets by Emily Hobausz and Flurey. Another three-point play, this time by Casey Ames (seven points) with 15 seconds left in the third, put the Astros up 36-34.

Pinkerton carried that momentum into the fourth, extending it into a 9-2 run that gave the Astros a 42-36 lead with 5:43 remaining.

But Central answered right away. A 3 by Jordan cut the lead in half, and on Pinkerton's next possession, McKenna Schneiderman came up with a steal and scored at the other end to get the Little Green within one, 42-41.

A putback by Pietroniro-Hamilton gave Central the lead with four minutes to play, and another 3-pointer, this time from Jailyn Johnson, made it 46-42 Little Green with 3:11 to go.

"That dagger, the out-of-bounds play where (Johnson) nails a 3 in the corner, that was the moment," Buskey said. "At the end, there were execution issues. We’re young. I have kids who have never been asked to be the go-to (player), and right now, they’re the go-to. They’re learning how to manage that. It scares them, but they showed a little fortitude."

Flurey made it 48-42 on a putback with 1:47 to play and Central was able to get the ball, forcing Pinkerton to foul. But the Astros only had three team fouls to that point, allowing to the Little Green to run more time off the clock.

A pair of turnovers by Central allowed Pinkerton to cut the lead to one, 48-47, with 30 seconds to play, but Flurey made two free throws at the other end to make it a three-point game with 22 seconds left.

The Astros tried to set up a play for a game-tying 3-point attempt, but Flurey picked off a pass and went in for a layup right before the buzzer to finish the win for Central.