Second-half comeback lifts Pinkerton girls basketball past Bedford

DERRY - When Brooke Kane is feeling it, she is hard to stop, and the Pinkerton Academy senior put on a clinic Wednesday night against Bedford.

Down seven to the Bulldogs in the third quarter, Kane quarterbacked a massive 20-3 run to bring the Astros all the way back en route to a 55-45 win at Hackler Gymnasium.

Kane had a game-high 20 points and added to it with seven rebounds, three blocks, four assists, and a steal. Kane led a balanced offensive attack that got big baskets when it had to and key stops to shift momentum.

“(Wednesday) we did a great job of moving the ball and getting everyone scoring,” Kane said. “That’s going to make us really hard to defend.”

The Astros (14-1) stumbled early and never led in the first half as Bedford controlled the pace of play. That changed in the second half when Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey moved Kane over to cover Bedford junior Amanda Jonas. Jonas had 10 points in the first half, but was held to just two after halftime.

“(Jonas is) tall and she’s big and we switched and put Brooke on her,” Buskey said. “A hand in her face I think stopped her and took away her outside shots.”

The key run for the Astros turned a 34-27 deficit into a 47-37 lead over nine minutes in the second half. Within that was a 4:21 stretch where Bedford (12-3) was held without a field goal. Pinkerton eventually took the lead with three seconds left in the third quarter and never gave it up.

Madison Mahoney had eight points, and Allison Ingalls had seven points, five rebounds, and a pair of blocks off the bench. Jesse Ames and Avah Ingalls had six and five points, respectively.

“I think matchups were really important (Wednesday),” Kane said. “I think we figured out good matchups for each other and communicated better on defense and hedged on screens. That worked really well for us.”

Jonas and Allison Morgan each had 12 points for the Bulldogs, and Bedford won the offensive rebounding battle 12-1, but couldn’t figure out a way to slow down the Astros once they got rolling. Costly turnovers also doomed the Bulldogs in the second half.

“In a game like this the kids are amped and want to make a play,” Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs said. “I’m not going to fault them for wanting to make a play. It’s the nature of the game. Everybody wants to put the team in a position to win.”

The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Bulldogs. Bedford won all its games by at least 14 points during that streak.