RallyNorth.net

Pinkerton survives big scare

Thursday, February, 28 By Ryan Lambert
Staff writer

The concept of playoff basketball is purely Darwinian, and Pinkerton was only slightly fitter than Nashua North Wednesday night.

The No. 8 Astros weathered sloppy first and third quarters to squeak by the 12th-seeded Titans with a 46-45 nail-biter before about 400 fans at Hackler Gym.

"That was a survival game," said Astros coach John Barry. "That's all it was, surviving. We did it against a bunch of really good teams this year and we did it against some teams that weren't as good, but we usually survived."

If not for the play of Jill Johnston in the first quarter, the Astros might not have even been close.

While the rest of the team was an ice-cold 1-of-10 from the floor, Johnston netted eight points and carried a big load on both ends of the court. Brittni Wilson was the only other offensive contributor in the first eight minutes, tallying five points on a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws.

"I'm not used to (being the team's go-to offensive player), but I like it," said Johnston, who finished with 15 points and credited the team's assistant coaches for her improved inside play. "I don't think we were really warmed up and ready, but once we all got warmed up, I don't know, we started playing well. Everyone started passing and working as a team and it worked out well."

Of note, too, was the Astros' strong defense, which effectively limited the Titans to only sporadic shooting opportunities. The problem was that everything they threw up was dropping, especially in the first half.

"Our goal was to try and keep (UNH-bound guard Kelsey) Hogan from scoring, and she got six points (in the game)," said Barry. "You figure if you hold her to six points, the rest of the team won't get many points, but they just shot like crazy. Much better than we anticipated."

The only thing that seemed to be dropping for Pinkerton was its abundant first-half foul shots. The Astros were 11 of 13 from the line in the first half to somehow go to the locker room up 25-23.

But the offense remained unimpressive in the second half, and several poorly chosen 3-point attempts were returned up the court for an easy two points. In all, the Astros were just 4 of 23 from beyond the arc.

"That's what it's like being a very unpredictable group," said Barry. "Some nights maybe it's 2 for 23 or 6 for 23, but tomorrow it's 10 for 23. I feel bad for the other coaches that scout us and go back and tell their coach, 'They can shoot,' or 'They can't shoot." I don't have any idea what they're going to do. We never know what we're going to do. But we went inside and did well inside."

Pinkerton's win, coupled with fourth-seeded Merrimack's 60-40 victory over Nashua South, means the teams will meet in the quarterfinals on Saturday at Southern New Hampshire University at 6 p.m.

Barry will need the few days off to recover from this one. He joked, "We try to make it interesting. That's intentional. We try to make it very exciting so nobody leaves, and we keep it close, make it exciting and we still to win."

He laughed then added, "It drives me crazy."