Portsmouth girls basketball takes down Bedford to reach D1 semifinals

BEDFORD - There were a couple of things Tim Hopley felt the Portsmouth High School girls basketball were unable to do the first time the Clippers traveled to Bedford a little more than two weeks ago.

It never hurts to get a second chance.

The Clippers got one Saturday night and they took full advantage of it, improving their defensive performance and attacking the boards throughout, as No. 6 Portsmouth upset No. 3 Bedford 50-34 in the Division I quarterfinals.

In their first year back in D1, the Clippers (15-5) move on to the semifinals, where they will face No. 2 Pinkerton, which defeated No. 7 Windham in the quarterfinals, at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Southern New Hampshire University. The win comes a year to the day after an undefeated Portsmouth team was upset in the Division II quarterfinals.

"The biggest thing from when we played them the first time was that we didn’t rebound the ball at all," Hopley said. "We probably played our worst game defensively, at least in the first half, and we dug ourselves a big hole. Those were the two biggest things that we knew we had to change to even have an opportunity to be successful. That’s what they went out and did."

When the teams met on Feb. 15, Portsmouth trailed by 12 points at halftime before cutting into the lead and eventually falling by six to the Bulldogs (16-4). The time around, the Clippers held Bedford to its second-lowest point total of the season.

Arianna Hebert led the way for the Clippers, scoring a game-high 27 points, including a 13-for-14 performance at the free throw line, while Abbe Laurence added nine points, six of which came in the fourth quarter in the post when Bedford's Kendra Barnard was on the bench with four fouls.

The Bulldogs got 11 points from Allison Morgan, but no one else was in double figures, as Amanda Jonas had eight points and Emma Rosenbaum had seven.

"I think our defense was spectacular," Hebert said. "We knew who we needed to guard and the specific players we had to keep in front of us. Ava Karlin did an amazing job of keeping (Morgan) in front of her, knowing that that girl is so quick. As a team, defensively, we’ve been doing so well."

The Clippers' defensive effort helped lead to a bad shooting night for Bedford, which in turn led the Bulldogs to try to do too much on offense.

"We knew they were relying more on their zone," Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs said. "The first time, they played a lot of man (defense). They want to slow the tempo down, so we were ready for that. They threw a little bit of full-court pressure at us, but we’ve had teams throw that at us all year.

"What was really a big factor was the way they attacked the boards. They did a really nice job on the boards on both ends of the floor. They took us out of our game because our kids, when shots aren’t falling, they try to make more happen. That took us out of what we were trying to do."

Bedford had a 6-5 lead late in the first quarter, but a pair of free throws by Laurence and a buzzer-beating layup by Hebert gave the Clippers the lead. Brittany Graham hit a 3-pointer to open the second and all of a sudden Portsmouth was up 12-6.

The Bulldogs eventually tied it at 17 late in the quarter, but two free throws by Hebert and another buzzer beater, this time from Anna Smith, gave the Clippers a 21-17 lead going into the break. Portsmouth opened the second half a 9-1 run to go up 29-18, but Bedford kept it close, pulling within four, 31-27, on a 3-pointer by Rosenbaum.

Hebert hit a jump shot before the end of the third to make it a six-point game and Laurence went to work in the post, getting back-to-back baskets to give Portsmouth a 37-29 lead. Bedford responded with a 3-pointer by Elizabeth Stevenson to get within five, 37-32, with 5:54 to go, but the Clippers scored five straight points to take a 10-point lead.

A jumper by Morgan made it 42-34 with 3:35 to play, but Bedford wouldn't score again and Hebert went 6 of 6 from the line down the stretch to put the game away.

"She’s about as tough as they come," Hopley said of Hebert. "When she puts her mind to it, she’s pretty tough. She didn’t let anything rattle her. Down the stretch, she made the free throws. She’s gotten to that stage where she knows she has to be a 32-minute player. She had help for sure, but she’s a big reason why we get to dance again."