Pinkerton girls basketball in D1 final following win over Londonderry

EXETER - The Pinkerton Academy girls basketball team knew it was going to see a different Londonderry team from when the teams met in the regular season.

Despite that, the Astros were still able to do the things needed to win.

No. 2 Pinkerton opened the game Tuesday night by hitting four 3-pointers in the first 3:30, setting the tone and creating enough of a cushion to fight off any threat by No. 3 Londonderry in a 78-54 win in the Division I semifinals at Exeter High School.

The win sends the Astros (19-1) to the D1 title game for the first time since 2018, where they will face top-seeded Bedford (20-0), which knocked off No. 4 Portsmouth in the other semifinal. The game will be held at the University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gymnasium either Saturday or Sunday.

"They threw everything at us," Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey said. "(Londonderry coach Jon Doherty) changed his scheme and that was a far different team than what we saw that first time. They didn’t cower at all, so major growth on Londonderry’s side."

Sydney Gerossie led Pinkerton with 23 points, hitting two 3s while going 7 for 7 at the free throw line, and Kaylee Dupuis had 22 points, with four 3s and a 4 for 4 night at the line. Brooke Benz added 16 points and Elizabeth Lavoie had 12 to give the Astros four starters in double figures.

"For us, the three major things we have to do, we’ve got to up our level of defense, we’ve got to rebound the ball, and we have to share the ball on offense," Buskey said. "If we can get four girls in double digits, it’s pretty hard to defend. I think the wealth we have on the offensive end contributed to (Tuesday)."

Londonderry (18-3) got 26 points from Sammie Sullivan while Kate Sloper added 11 points and Reagan Anderson had eight.

Even with the loss, Doherty felt encouraged after the game, not just because of how the Lancers improved the regular season, but because he loses just one senior and should return all five starters.

"I’m proud of the effort that we put in, because we definitely played better than the first time we played them," he said. "We didn’t give up. They’re really good. They’ve got a ton of weapons, a ton of shooters. The girls fought. They played hard, they didn’t quit, and I’m going to bring the whole team back next year."

Londonderry opened the game in a zone defense and Pinkerton took advantage, as Lavoie opened the scoring with a 3 less than a minute into the game. Dupuis hit her first 3 a minute later, and after a basket by Lavoie, Dupuis and Gerossie hit back-to-back 3s for a 15-5 lead.

"The zone came off very quickly," Buskey said. "I said to my coaches he’s not keeping that on much longer. "

Doherty took a timeout with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter and the Lancers switched up their defense.

"We had a zone ready that I thought would slow them down a little bit and it did not do any of the such," Doherty said. "That lead they went out on, it’s a little bit on me, but the girls stepped up, jumped into a man (defense) quick. Once you get down 10, 12 (points), it’s really hard, especially with the firepower that they have."

Despite falling behind by as many as 11 points in the first half, a 3 by Sullivan right before halftime got Londonderry within six, 32-26, going into the break.

But Pinkerton opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run to go up 12 points just 90 seconds into the frame. Eight straight points from Gerossie, including a 3 and a three-point play, put the Astros up 46-30 with 4:49 to go in the quarter.

"We eventually figured out Londonderry’s scheme and we were able to have more composure and run our sets better," Buskey said. "First half we weren’t running our sets. Second half, we ran our sets and I thought that was the difference."

Londonderry cut the lead back down to 12 points, getting two free throw from Anderson with 12.6 seconds left in the third to pull within 53-41 going into the fourth.

But Pinkerton put the game away to start the final quarter, opening with a 7-0 run to go up 60-41.

"We were fighting," Doherty said. "We got it down to six at one point. I’m proud of the girls, because this year has been our learning-to-deal-with-adversity year. How are we going to handle it when teams come out (strong)? We’re so young, we’re used to things being easy, and when things aren’t easy, we kind of fold into ourselves a little bit. We did not do that (Tuesday). We had a couple of lapses but we were able to pull it back together."