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Pinkerton tops Goffstown in preliminary game

Wednesday, March, 04 By Chris Helms
Staff writer

DERRY, N.H. — If defense wins championships, Pinkerton may well be on its way to its first Class L title since 2006.

The No. 2 Astros blanked sixteenth-seeded Goffstown in the opening frame and allowed just seven first-half points in yesterday’s 55-33 victory in the first round of the Class L tournament at the Hackler Gymnasium.

“I was very pleased with our defense. I was a little upset that they had seven at the half instead of four, but that’s a good half of defense,” said coach John Barry, referring to the 3-pointer Goffstown’s Andrea Foley nailed at the end of the first half.

Pinkerton had its own offensive struggles in the first quarter, recording just eight points in the opening eight minutes. According to Barry, that cannot continue if the Astros are to have success in following rounds.

“We didn’t shoot that great at the beginning,” Barry said. “We missed a lot of shots that we probably should get. That’s nervousness, the beginning of the tournament, hopefully.

“We can’t keep doing that, our offense has got to start from the beginning of the game, not later on.”

The Grizzlies, like most of Pinkerton’s opponents, keyed in on A.J. Guidi frequently. But despite their attempts to contain her, Guidi still managed to score a game-high 13 points with two 3-pointers and 6 boards.

“We have a team, you know, it’s not just A.J. We have a lot of kids that can hurt you. We’ve had box-and-ones and triangle-and-twos and all these other things against A.J, and what we’re blessed with is enough kids to pick up the slack and score for us,” said Barry.

One such player was senior Steph Sayward. Sayward had 12 points in the game, doing the bulk of her damage when needed most — the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters.

Said Barry, “I’ve been trying to convince her that she can shoot! For some kids, they’re very tense, and they don’t know whether they should or shouldn’t shoot, but I told them at the beginning of the game, ‘Girls, just go out and shoot the ball.'

“The win or loss you shouldn’t worry about, just as long as we play well and play hard. You do that and the winning and losing will take care of itself.”

Senior Jill Johnston (8 points, 3 blocks), who missed Pinkerton’s 54-34 win over Goffstown on Jan. 23 due to illness, came up big, as well. Four of her points came in the first quarter when both teams were having significant trouble finding the bottom of the net.

Pinkerton next faces No. 10 Exeter, which beat Manchester Memorial 37-25, on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Pinkerton Academy. The Astros beat Exeter, 51-24, on Jan. 30.