Third-quarter run lifts Pinkerton girls basketball past Bishop Guertin

NASHUA - The halftime message from Lani Buskey to the Pinkerton Academy girls basketball team was a simple one.

Play the rest of the game more like the Astros did in the first quarter, when they led Bishop Guertin by as many as 11 points, and not the second, when the Cardinals were able to erase that lead.

Pinkerton did that and more, opening the third quarter with a 14-2 run to get its advantage back up to double digits, on the way to a 73-46 win over Bishop Guertin in a Division I game Friday night at the Collignon Gymnasium.

The Astros' win snapped a 52-game winning streak at home for the Cardinals, dating back to Jan. 27, 2018, and was Bishop Guertin's first loss at home to an in-state team since Dec. 13, 2016.

Elizabeth Lavoie led the Astros (4-0) with 21 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists and Alexandria White had a double double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Sydney Gerossie also had a double double, scoring 10 points while grabbing 11 boards and dishing out eight assists and Brooke Benz had 12 points and four rebounds.

"That’s good quality minutes from my starters," Buskey said. "I think this is a confidence booster. Up until now, we haven’t been challenged this way. This was a defining moment. Last year, at halftime, they would not have responded well. They came right out (in the second half)."

Kaylee Dupuis also had seven points and four rebounds, but the biggest basket of the night might have come from Hayden Leccese.

Down nine points with about five minutes left in the second quarter, Bishop Guertin (1-3) went on a 12-3 run, tying the game at 27 on a 3 by Holly Dufoe with under 30 seconds to play. Pinkerton got the ball back down the court quick and Leccese went in for a layup just before the buzzer to give the Astros a 29-27 lead.

"I was just super proud of how hard we played," Bishop Guertin coach Olivia Orlando said. "I thought the girls competed in the first half. They busted their butts, defensively especially.

"That strong defensive performance led to strong offense. We got transition buckets, which is what we want to do. I don’t think they let their size intimidate them. They put bodies on people. Sure, they beat us up a little bit on the boards. That didn’t stop us from defending our butts off."

Dufoe finished with a team-high 14 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Cardinals, and as a team, they made eight 3s, but no one else was in double figures. Ayla Regan added seven points and Thalia Drapeau had six.

Pinkerton scored seven-straight points to start the third quarter, extending the lead to 36-27. A basket by Maddi Long got Bishop Guertin on the board in the second half, but the Astros scored the next seven to lead 43-29.

"I keep watching them grow, but there was growth within this game," Buskey said. "If you look at the first quarter vs. the second quarter, we approached the game the right way. We got off to a quick start, but then we got complacent and started to freelance in the second.

"It wasn’t creating offense anymore because BG is good. The halftime speech was you’ve got to run your sets. We’re too talented to not run our sets. If you run your set, you’re going to find somebody."

All five starters had at least two points in the third quarter, as Pinkerton took a 53-37 lead into the fourth.

"They definitely exposed us on that, transition defense, which is something we’re working at and will continue to work at," Orlando said. "They have size, they have athleticism, they have collegiate-level athletes. That’s what you want, you want your players to play against top-level talent. It’s a great learning experience for us to be quite frank.

"It stinks because everyone talks about the end result of being a talented and great team, but no body wants to talk through the process sometimes. The process is rough sometimes, and it’s not always pretty, but this is sometimes what it takes to get to that end goal."