Spark from the bench helped Pinkerton girls basketball right the ship against Manchester Memorial

Of the 28 points the Pinkerton Academy girls basketball team scored in the first half of Thursday's 58-50 win over Manchester Memorial, all but four of them came from two players.

Brooke Kane had 12 of the Astros' first 16 points in the game's opening six minutes, while Jesse Ames got seven of 12 first-half points during a two-minute stretch at the end of the second quarter that saw her attempt eight free throws.

Pinkerton was down 10 points at halftime, and Memorial's lead ballooned to 16 points with 3:32 left in the third quarter, as the Astros had just four points - on two baskets by Kane - to that point of the second half.

Someone else needed to step up for Pinkerton (13-1).

"To go deep into the playoffs, it is so necessary to get three or four other girls contributing," Pinkerton coach Lani Buskey said. "They don’t need huge points, but they need to make contributions. That’s what I said at halftime, we’ve got to spread out the ball, we’ve got to move."

Megan King heard the message and got the Astros going, make one of two free throws after the Crusaders (11-3) had taken their largest lead of the game. King added a layup off a Memorial turnover and moments later, grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back to give Pinkerton five straight points in 1:15.

"Megan King comes of the bench and gets two rebounds and two layups," Buskey said of what changed for Pinkerton in the second half. "If we can get more people scoring, it alleviates (pressure) and it requires the defense to look at other girls and not just Maddie (Mahoney) and Brooke."

Mahoney got in on the act, scoring after a steal by King, and Kane hit two free throws with two seconds left in the third to make it a 9-0 run and cut Memorial's lead to 48-41.

While the offense started coming at one end, the Astros picked it up on defense as well, holding the Crusaders scoreless for over 11 minutes by taking away the plays they'd been running to the inside.

"They were doing almost an X-cut down the middle," Buskey said. "We were playing behind and Maddie Mahoney shifted on that girl, and once she got in front, it took away that. Instead of clean shots, they started taking forced shot, and when they took a forced shot, we were able to get rebounds and go. The energy on the defensive end gives us the energy on the offensive end. We start doing well down there, it shows up on the other."

With four games left in the season, Buskey explained to her players the significance of their win in regards to the postseason.

"It’s big for two reasons," the coach said. "That comeback, I think it was necessary. Aside from (the loss to) Bishop Guertin, there has not been one game in the regular season that we’ve had a deficit. And seeding purposes, any chance you have to avoid BG earlier in the playoffs, I hate that that’s the case, but that’s the case. We have a little bit of control in our destiny."

Pinkerton returns to its home floor on Tuesday against Bedford.