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# Manchester Memorial girls basketball holds off Goffstown for win
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/manchester-memorial-girls-basketball-holds-off-goffstown-for-win/
- Published: 2021-02-24T17:30:47.000Z
- Updated: 2021-02-24T17:30:47.000Z
- Description: GOFFSTOWN - The rebound kicked way out toward the foul line, where Elizabeth Barrientos was the first to it, and didn't hesitate in swinging the ball over to Emma Rossi behind the 3-point line. Rossi drained the long-range jumper, giving the Manchester Memorial High School girls basketball team a fi
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, girls basketball, Goffstown, Manchester Memorial, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

GOFFSTOWN - The rebound kicked way out toward the foul line, where Elizabeth Barrientos was the first to it, and didn't hesitate in swinging the ball over to Emma Rossi behind the 3-point line.

Rossi drained the long-range jumper, giving the Manchester Memorial High School girls basketball team a five-point lead. After Goffstown answered with a basket, the Crusaders came right back down the court and found Erin McCoy in the opposite corner for another 3.

Memorial used that momentum swing to end Tuesday night's game by outscoring Goffstown 15-7, as the Crusaders came away with a 59-49 win over the Grizzlies in the first of two Division I contests between the teams this week.

Freshman Madison Pepra-Omani led Memorial (7-6) with a career-high 18 points, including three 3-pointers, and Elizabeth Barrientos added 12 points and Jessica Carrier and Rossi each had eight. As a team, the Crusaders hit six 3s and were 6 of 6 at the free throw line while battling Goffstown (5-8) on the boards.

"One thing we’ve been consistent with all year has been our defense," Memorial coach Greg Cotreau said. "We do a really good job executing our defensive game plan. We hold teams to the number that we want to hold them to.

"With a young group like this, a lot of times it comes down to, since we’re so small, can we rebound enough to get into our break, or can we create enough turnovers to get into our break. We want to play up and down, and if it’s a slow game, it doesn’t really favor us."

After a slow start, Memorial was able to pick up the tempo in the first quarter, going on a 9-0 run in a little more than two minutes to turn an 8-5 deficit into a 14-9 lead. That run helped the Crusaders keep the lead for the rest of the half, going into the break up 25-24.

"Our guards really did a great job forcing our pace," Cotreau said. "They know when to go fast, they know when we should pump the breaks a little bit. Jess has been here for four years, so coming from Emma and Maddie, who are a sophomore and a freshman, for them to do that at the varsity level at this point in their careers, I think they’re advanced beyond where we thought they’d be."

Goffstown got a game-high 20 points from freshman Maggie Sasso while Ava Winterburn added 19 points, but the Grizzlies, who played with a short bench, had only three other players score.

"We were down some numbers and had seven or eight kids rotating, battling fatigue, and then we had an injury," Goffstown coach Steve Largy said. "That makes it even tougher. One of our best defenders and hardest working kid goes down in the fourth quarter. I thought our kids battled and did everything they could to put us in the position to win at the end of the game."

Down one at halftime, Sasso hit a 3 to open the scoring in the second half and give Goffstown a 27-25 lead, but Barrientos scored at the other end to tie the game. The lead changed hands four times early in the third quarter as the teams traded baskets at a furious pace.

A jumper by Sasso tied the game at 32, but another Barrientos basket put Memorial in front, and after a steal by McCoy, Carrier scored to give the Crusaders a 36-32 lead.

Memorial ended the quarter on a 10-2 run to lead 42-37 after three, but a basket, a steal and another quick basket by Winterburn got Goffstown with one just 15 seconds into the fourth. Ciara Banks hit a jump shot to put the Crusaders up three points and Winterburn got it back down to two by hitting the first of two free throws.

The second free throw by the sophomore was off the mark, and in the scramble for possession, Goffstown's Emily Peterson was hurt; the senior left the game and didn't return.

Barrientos kept Memorial's next possession alive when she tracked down the long offensive rebound and found Rossi for the first of the back-to-back 3s.

"It was huge," Cotreau said. "When we go back and see film of that, that’s what we need to demonstrate more of. If we can rebound more consistently, this is the outcome that will happen. We don’t have a lot of size. Elizabeth is undersized but does a heck of a job down low. We have shooters all over the place."

The Grizzlies were able to get within three points on a layup by Ava Ruggiero with 2:14 to play, but Memorial ended the game with a 7-0 run to take the win.