Pinkerton girls basketball holds off Portsmouth to get win (video)

DERRY - The Pinkerton Academy girls basketball team played a lot of defense Thursday night.

Fortunately for the Astros, they did it well enough for long enough to get a win.

Pinkerton slowed things down defensively to overcome a rough finish on the offensive end, as the Astros went scoreless for the games final six-plus minutes, but held on for a 33-29 win over Portsmouth in a Division I game.

Taya Brown led all scorers with 15 points, including four 3-pointers, the last of which gave Pinkerton (8-9) a 33-22 lead with 6:30 remaining in the game. Brooke Benz added seven points and Madison Leccese chipped in with five points off the bench for the Astros.

“This was a game we kind of needed,” Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey said. “I’m not sure what it’s going to do record-wise, but just for morale and energy and enthusiasm, the seniors needed it. This feels like a good win to me.”

The victory snapped a four-game skid for Pinkerton and solidified a spot in the postseason. Where the Astros will end up remains to be determined before the end of the D1 regular season on Tuesday.

For Portsmouth (9-8), the loss thwarted any momentum the Clippers had after ending a six-game losing streak of their own last Saturday. Leiana Cory scored 11 points to lead the team while Jenna Lucy scored nine points and Lana Vldacic scored seven.

But after a back-and-forth first quarter, Portsmouth's offense dried up, scoring just three points over a 10-minute stretch.

“We get into too long of spells where we’re a step behind, we’re hesitating, we’re pausing, we’re missing opportunities,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “First (quarter), we had 10 points. We were flowing, we were getting up and down, we were attacking off the dribble, we were doing things that we talk about, that we practice, things we know we need to do.

“Then we started giving up second- and third-shot opportunities to Pinkerton (on defense). They started hitting some shots, they got into the zone, and then we became stagnant.”

Pinkerton took advantage of that in the second quarter, scoring nine straight points to finish the half up 23-13. A fade away jumper by Benz to open the second half made it an 11-0 run, and after Portsmouth got a free throw from Vldacic, Benz and Ayvree Hamilton each scored to make it 29-14 Astros with just under six minutes left in the third.

But then things flipped. After a Portsmouth timeout, Vldacic and Lucy hit back-to-back baskets, and by the end of the quarter, the Clippers had cut the lead to 29-20.

“(Hopley) called a timeout and they adjusted,” Buskey said. “Sometimes for us, I know it seems so late in the season, but we’re still so young, we’re still trying to teach that IQ. There were times when I said the clock is favoring them right now. We need to spend time down here (on offense).”

Pinkerton looked like it might be all right to open the fourth, getting a free throw from Leccese and a 3 from Brown to go up 11 points. But the Astros failed to score over the game's final 6:30 and needed their defense to come up with stops.

A pair of free throws by Kolie Robichaud and a 3-pointer from Lucy made it a six-point game, 33-27, with 4:06 left. Another jumper by Lucy got Portsmouth within four points a minute later, and it felt like the Clippers had momentum.

“We had two or three possession down four (points) inside the last two minutes and we just couldn’t convert,” Hopley said. “We had chances, we just didn’t make them.”

And even though Pinkerton missed a couple of shots later, the Astros were able to hang on thanks to their defense.

“I said our best stall was when we were playing (zone) defense,” Buskey said. “I think they’re all more confident on defense. It’s just a matter of getting the whole team together on the offensive end. My team just likes it better on defense, which is great, but we still have got to score some points.”