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# Pinkerton girls basketball pulls away in second half to beat Manchester Memorial, advance to D1 final
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/pinkerton-girls-basketball-pulls-away-in-second-half-to-beat-manchester-memorial-advance-to-d1-final/
- Published: 2018-03-09T12:30:46.000Z
- Updated: 2018-03-09T12:30:46.000Z
- Description: MANCHESTER - The Pinkerton Academy girls basketball team had to play with four things. If the Astros were able to maintain execution, speed, focus and composure, coach Lani Buskey thought they'd be able to hold off Manchester Memorial long enough. But Pinkerton didn't do that in the first half, as t
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, girls basketball, Manchester Memorial, Pinkerton, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

MANCHESTER - The Pinkerton Academy girls basketball team had to play with four things.

If the Astros were able to maintain execution, speed, focus and composure, coach Lani Buskey thought they'd be able to hold off Manchester Memorial long enough.

But Pinkerton didn't do that in the first half, as the Crusaders responded from an early deficit to make things close at halftime.

In the second half, it was a different story. The No. 2 Astros opened the third quarter with a 12-0 run and held No. 3 Memorial to just one points in the frame to take a 56-38 win over the Crusaders in the Division I semifinal Thursday night at Southern New Hampshire University.

The Astros move on to the final for the first time since 2010, where they will face No. 5 Bishop Guertin at 4 p.m. Saturday at SNHU.

"If we play smart, they can’t come back at us with a run," Buskey said of what she told the Astros in the third quarter. "They did it, they held the fort pretty well. I warned them. This is a good team, don’t panic when they go on a run. Don’t get cocky when we go on a run. I thought my girls maintained their composure. That had been our key word. Execution, speed and focus were our three words, and then one girl said you’ve got to add composure."

Brooke Kane led all scorers with 23 points for Pinkerton (17-3) on 10 of 17 shooting and also added 10 rebounds, while Amanda Lemire added 22 points, including 6 of 6 at the free throw line in the final 1:24 of the game, to go with six rebounds and five assists. Lemire played with a clear mask after breaking her nose in the quarterfinals against Londonderry.

Memorial (16-4) got 13 points off the bench from Lyric Grumblatt, who had four 3-pointers, while Melanie Presseau had eight points and Haleigh Shea had seven points and eight rebounds. The point total was the second-lowest of the year for the Crusaders, who made just 27.1 percent of their shots from the field, including 0 for 9 in the third.

"I warned the girls that Pinkerton was going to go on a run just like they did to start the game and we needed to weather the storm and go on a run of our own," Memorial Greg Cotreau said. "We were able to get the stops we needed to get, we just weren’t able to do anything at the other end. You’re not going to win a semifinal game scoring one point in the third quarter."

Pinkerton jumped out to an early lead behind Kane, who scored the first seven points of the game. A jumper by Lemire made it 9-0 less than four minutes in and Croteau took a timeout.

Grumblatt came in during the break and hit a 3 on the Crusaders’ next possession, starting Memorial on a 12-3 run to end the quarter and tie it at 12\. The sophomore hit another 3 to open the second, giving Memorial its first lead, but Lemire answered with a 3-pointer to tie it back up.

The Astros took a 19-17 lead on a basket by Kane with 4:43 to go in the half, but after a pair of jump balls, Sydney Robinson and Grumblatt hit back-to-back 3s to put Memorial up 23-19\. Kane tried to get one of the 3s back, but her shot was off the mark and Lemire grabbed the rebound, finding Kane for a jumper.

Lemire then banked in a 3-pointer in the final second of the half to put Pinkerton in front at the break, 24-23.

"Once we did get going, the game in the first half flowed really well," Croteau said. "I think at the end of the first half, there were a couple of key rebounds that we didn’t come up with that we needed to come up with, which led to a couple of transition points, which is why Pinkerton ended up with the lead. Once we dug ourselves out of that 9-0 hole, we controlled much of the first half."

Pinkerton started the second half the same as the first, going on a 12-0 run that included a basket and a 3-pointer each by Kane and Lemire. The 3 by Lemire made it a 36-23 lead for the Astros and Memorial took a timeout, but while the Crusaders kept Pinkerton off the board, they were unable to score, too, getting just one point in the quarter.

"We’ve had a few of those this year, where we’ve held teams to two or three points, but to hold this team, that has that offense, that’s a difference maker," Buskey said. "After that, any run they made, I felt it was too late. They needed to make that run in the third quarter."

Grumblatt hit a 3 to start the scoring in the fourth, cutting the Pinkerton lead to nine points, but the Astros went on a 10-1 run to go up 46-28 with 3:19 to play.

"I think we got ourselves back into the right mindset at halftime," Buskey said. "They needed a little pep talk. They needed to go back to their original matchups. And when my girls are challenged on defense, it’s impressive."