Portsmouth girls basketball pulls away in fourth quarter to beat Merrimack (video)

MERRIMACK - Tim Hopley knew his Portsmouth High School girls basketball team was going to face a challenge Friday night, no matter who was playing for Merrimack.

For three quarters, the Clippers saw that challenge become a reality, but in the fourth, they were able to turn the corner.

Portsmouth outscored the Tomahawks by 13 points in the final eight minutes to turn a tie game into a 55-42 win over Merrimack in a Division I contest.

With both teams missing starters, they each needed other players to step up, and both sides did. Portsmouth (9-1) got 21 points from Maddie MacCannell, while Bella Slover had 10 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter and Margaret Montplaisir also had half of her eight points in the final frame.

"We knew coming in here that Merrimack is really good," Hopley said. "At this point, in the time of the year, the situation what it is, nobody is going to be full strength. Regardless, we knew we were going to be in for a challenge.

"I thought in the fourth quarter, we were a little tougher mentally and physically. As the half went along, we started to get a little more confidence that we could get some looks that we wanted to and we started knocking them down."

Through the first 24 minutes, it was Merrimack (6-5) knocking down 3-pointers, as every time it seemed the Clippers might start to pull away, the Tomahawks hit a big shot. Merrimack hit six of its seven 3s in the first three quarters, but in the fourth, those shots stopped falling.

"I’m happy with how we played," Merrimack coach Bryan Duggan said. "We kept fighting through and fighting through, we had some good looks and we hit some good shots. We were missing two starters, they were missing girls, too. You can’t use that as an excuse. The girls who came in and played, I’m very happy with the effort."

Kaylee Bormuth and Madison McCaffery each had 13 points for the Tomahawks, including three 3-pointers apiece. But Bormuth went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury in the fourth quarter, early in Portsmouth's game-clinching run.

"Bormuth was awesome," Duggan said. "She’s physical and smart. When the senior captain goes down, it’s who is going to step up? We haven’t been in that situation."

Both teams started slow offensively, as Portsmouth led 4-2 for most of the first quarter and the Clippers took a 10-5 lead into the second. Portsmouth twice got the lead up to seven points but Merrimack kept coming back, going on a 9-4 run to close the first half down 21-19.

The Clippers looked ready to pull away again in the third, as they took a 37-30 lead on a jumper by MacCannell with 2:03 left in the quarter. But Merrimack answered right away on a basket by Mia Getchel to start a 7-0 run to end the third, tying the game on a layup by Alexis Best.

The teams traded empty possession to start the fourth until MacCannell and Slover hit back-to-back jumpers to give Portsmouth a four-point lead. Best scored off a Clippers turnover to get Merrimack back within two, but those would be the last points the Tomahawks scored until the final seconds.

Slover hit a 3 and Montplaisir followed with a putback to make it 46-39 with just over four minutes remaining. MacCannell added a second-chance basket and Slover scored five straight points for Portsmouth to put the game out of reach.

"Bella hit a couple in the second half, which picked her up and picked the rest of us up," Hopley said. "Maddie did a good job on the inside. Mia Smith was absolutely nails for us, defending their freshman point guard (McCaffery), who is going to be a phenomenal player. Mia and Kali Slover and Ariana Incollingo took turns on her, just to throw fresh bodies at her and make her work for it.

"A lot of the things we had talked about and knew we needed to do, we wound up getting done in the end."