Merrimack girls basketball comes back to beat Dover in D1 playoffs (video)

MERRIMACK - The postseason looked like it might end a little more than four minutes after it started for the Merrimack High School girls basketball team.

Down 11-0 just 4:18 into Tuesday night's Division I preliminary round game against Dover, the Tomahawks were on their way to seeing their season end on their home court for the third year in a row.

But No. 8 Merrimack regrouped in between quarters and turned the game around on defense in the second, holding No. 9 Dover scoreless until the final seconds before halftime. The Tomahawks used an 11-0 run in the third quarter to take control of the game and held on for a 45-38 win over the Green Wave, Merrimack's first playoff win since 2017.

The victory sends the Tomahawks to the quarterfinals, where they will face No. 1 Pinkerton (16-1) on Friday at 7 p.m.

"They were just a little jittery," Merrimack coach Bryan Duggan said of the start of the game. "You throw tournament in front of it, it raises the stakes. What I kept telling them is we’ve just got to keep fighting. Offensive struggles, we’ll get through it, but I was happy the way we responded defensively in the second quarter."

Dover led 13-4 after one quarter, and although Merrimack scored just eight points in the second, it's defense held the Green Wave without a field goal in the quarter. The two points came off two free throws by Dover's Lilly Nossiff with 2.5 seconds to go until halftime.

"That’s what kept us in the game," Duggan said. "That second quarter, we held them to two points. That could have been a lot worse if we let down on defense. That let us get looser in the third and we started making some shots."

Madison McCaffery led the way for Merrimack (11-8), as the freshman scored all of her team-high 13 points in the second half, including 4 for 4 from the free throw line down the stretch. Alexis Best was also in double figures with 10 points, as went 5 of 6 from the line, and Kaylee Bormuth added nine points and helped the Tomahawks' defense record 11 steals, seven in the second half.

Nossiff, a freshman, led the Green Wave (10-9) with 20 points, as she was 9 of 11 at the line, but no one else had more than five points for Dover.

It looked like the Green Wave were going to start the second half like they did the first, as Tory Vitko and Nossiff hit back-to-back baskets to give Dover a 19-12 lead just 1:16 into the third. But Merrimack stepped up on defense after that and the Tomahawks started to chip away on offense.

Down 24-18, McCaffery hit a jumper and Best drilled a 3 on consecutive possessions to make it a one-point game. After a Dover turnover, McCaffery hit a 3 of her own to give Merrimack its first lead and Bormuth followed with a three-point play to make it 29-24 Tomahawks.

"I was very nervous coming into it," McCaffery said. "As the nerves settled down, I got into the game. You can’t get down on yourself. You’ve got to just keep playing how you play. We did a great job coming back."

The lead was still five points for Merrimack going into the fourth and a basket by Best put the Tomahawks up 33-26.

But Nossiff kept Dover in it, scoring all but two points for the Green Wave on an 8-3 run that cut the lead to two. After the freshman was fouled on a layup that made it 36-34, the free throw was off the mark and McCaffery hit a pair from the foul line at the other end to give Merrimack a four-point lead.

Bormuth added another basket moments later to make it 40-34 and McCaffery, Best and Emma Valluzzi (eight points) combined to go 5 of 6 at the line to put the game away.

"I was definitely nervous (shooting free throws) and I think everyone was," McCaffery said. "But you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do. It feels great."

After struggling at the line earlier in the season, Duggan was pleased to see the Tomahawks make their free throws when it mattered most.

"We have not been a good free throw (shooting) team this season, but we’re getting better at that," the coach said. "It’s some of these younger girls learning how to play in the moment. Pressure is a privilege. This is awesome, it’s fun, and we had some girls step up and hit some big shots. They’re gamers and they just compete and that’s all you can ask."