Pinkerton girls basketball rallies in second half to beat Bishop Guertin (video)

DERRY - Through all the wins the Pinkerton Academy girls basketball team has had this season, there was still something Astros coach Lani Buskey needed to see.

The Astros hadn't been pushed to their limit yet, and Thursday night, they got that test against none other than Bishop Guertin, the cream of crop in Division I for more than half a decade.

Pinkerton went up early, got down in the middle, and stormed back late in the third quarter before retaking the lead and holding on late to take a 74-66 win over the Cardinals. It's the Astros first win over Bishop Guertin since knocked off the Cardinals in the quarterfinals in 2015.

"Best present I ever got," said Buskey, who was also celebrating a birthday. "I’m happy on the win, but I’m more impressed with the game situation, and how my girls handled it. That helps us. This win helps us, but that moment, that situational basketball, they were starting to hang their heads and I said ‘knock this off.’

"They went out there and started playing like a team again, that’s going to help us down the road. That’s growth and maturity."

The Astros (12-0) got down in the first half thanks in part to foul trouble and Bishop Guertin's free throw shooting, as the Cardinals were 16 of 20 at the line in the first half and scored their first five points of the game there.

But it was Pinkerton's free throw shooting late that helped secure the win. The Astros were 14 of 20 in the fourth quarter, with Elizabeth Lavoie leading the way, shooting 5 of 6, as the sophomore led Pinkerton with 25 points.

Sydney Gerossie added 21 points, including three 3-pointers, while Avah Ingalls was also in double figures, scoring 12 points, and Kristina Packowski chipped in eight points despite foul trouble.

Brooke Paquette led all scorers with 28 for Bishop Guertin (10-2), as the junior three 3s and was 13 of 17 at the line. Catelyn Wheeler added 11 points, going 6 of 8 on free throws, and Olivia Murray had nine points.

The Cardinals took the lead on a 3-pointer by Paquette with 3:26 left in the first quarter and led for the rest of the half. The Astros were able to pull within two points twice in the second quarter, but back-to-back 3s by Paquette and Kate Daly to end the half gave Bishop Guertin a 36-27 lead at the break.

That advantage grew to as many as 13 points in the third, and with 4:03 left in the quarter, Bishop Guertin was up 45-34.

A switch in defenses by the Astros and the Cardinals' inability to get shots to fall turned the tide, as Pinkerton went into the fourth on an 11-2 run to make it a two-point game.

"We always say to the kids, open shots are fine, but it felt like we rushed a little bit," Bishop Guertin coach Brad Kreick said. "I thought we took a lot of good shots, they just didn’t go down. That stuff will work itself out over time. I thought that three-minute stretch over the middle of the third quarter, where we didn’t take good care of the basketball, didn’t finish a couple of times, let them leak out a couple of times, was really the turning point."

Pinkerton carried that momentum into the fourth, tying the game at 50 on a 3 by Gerossie and taking the lead on two free throws by Lavoie. Rebecca Farnum gave the Astros the lead for good on a free throw with 4:01 left, and although the senior missed the second one, Pinkerton got the rebound and Packowski scored to make it 57-54 Astros.

Bishop Guertin got within two points twice down the stretch, including two free throws by Paquette to make it 68-66 with 22.8 seconds left, but Pinkerton went 7 of 8 at the line the rest of the way to secure the win.

"We knew this was going to be a battle," Buskey said. "I knew my girls had talent, I knew we had the energy and the effort. Now I know they have the IQ."

Both teams return to action on Saturday, as Bishop Guertin hosts Mercy, from Middletown, Conn., at 3 p.m., while Pinkerton heads to Londonderry for a 2 p.m. start, the second game of a varsity doubleheader.