Manchester Memorial girls basketball outlasts Manchester Central in overtime

MANCHESTER - There were two ways that Friday night's game was going to go.

Either the Manchester Memorial High School girls basketball team was going to get out and run, and take care of business early against Manchester Central.

Or the Little Green were going to grind and battle on the boards to dictate the pace and keep it a close game throughout.

The later proved to be true, and while it took an extra four minutes, the Crusaders' offensive prowess proved to be a little too much for Central, as Memorial scored the final four points of overtime to come away with a 39-35 home victory over its city rival.

Jessica Carrier scored 10 points for the Crusaders (11-2), including the final four of the game, and Jennessa Brunette led all scorers with 13 points as Central was able to hold Memorial's Lyric Grumblatt to just nine points.

"Jessica Carrier took the game over, that’s what saved us," Memorial coach Greg Cotreau said. "We talked about it before (the game), we talked about it the two days leading up to it, if we can rebound and get out and run, that’s when we’re really dangerous.

"You’ve got girls scrambling on defense, trying to match up with shooters. When that happens, if you just run someone down the middle, you’ve got layups. That’s the style of basketball that we want to play. We said if we weren’t able to rebound and run, it was going to be a game like we saw."

The largest lead of the game was six points, which came in the first half when Grumblatt hit the only made 3-pointer of the night to give Memorial an 18-12 lead. But Central (8-4) scored the final four points of the half to make it a two point game at the break.

The Crusaders led by as many as five points in the fourth, but every time Memorial pulled ahead, the Little Green would come back to tie it. There were five ties in the second half and overtime.

Central's only lead came on the first possession of overtime, on a jumper by Hannah Autenrieth that put the Little Green up 35-33. But Central wouldn't score again, despite having a big night on the offensive glass.

"We executed what we wanted to on the defensive end," Central coach Mike Wenners said. "On the offensive end, we got to the spots where we want to shoot the ball. It’s really that simple. I’m ecstatic with the way they play. They always play hard."

Emily Greenwood and Destiny Jordan each had 10 points to lead the Little Green, who saw themselves down 33-28 with 3:54 left to play.

On Central's next possession, Autenrieth made the first of two free throws, but the Little Green grabbed the rebound off the miss - one of five offensive rebounds on the possession - leading to a basket by Greenwood to make it 33-31.

After a Memorial turnover, Jordan hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 33 with 2:22 remaining. Neither team would score again in regulation, although both had chances.

With under 20 seconds to play, Greenwood had an open lane to the basket, but her shot came up short and the Crusaders grabbed the rebound. After a Central foul, Memorial tried to run a play for Grumblatt, and the junior was able to beat a double team and get to the basket, but her shot from the baseline bounced across the front of the rim at the buzzer.

"We were going to swing the ball to the corner and (Grumblatt) would be open," Cotreau said. "It’s something that we’d never practiced, I just drew it up on the fly and see if they could execute it in a game situation. I think the look was there."

After Central took the lead in overtime, Brunette got to the basket to tie the game at 35, and with 1:28 to play, Carrier completed a three-point play to give Memorial a 38-35 lead. The sophomore hit the first of two free throws with 34.2 seconds remaining and the Crusaders were able to keep the Little Green from scoring in the final moments.