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Londonderry sweeps Pinkerton

Sunday, February, 27 By Jeff Hamrick

LONDONDERRY — Through the first 16 minutes yesterday, offense didn't play much a part of the regular-season finale for Pinkerton and Londonderry. With the second seed for the upcoming Division 1 playoffs in New Hampshire on the line the two girls squads combined for only 30 points — nine in the first quarter.

But once the second half rolled around, Londonderry found a little momentum and completed a season sweep of its rival with a 47-27 victory on senior day. The Lancers (17-3 overall, 16-2 in Division 1) earned the No. 2 seed while the Astros (16-5, 14-4) claimed the No. 3.

"We realized in the first half none of our shots were going in," said senior Catherine Cloutier, who scored all eight of her points after intermission. "I fell like we all didn't have the intensity that we needed to come out and win. In the second half, we all realized we had to pick up the pace and needed to step on them to win this game.

"It feels great. It's definitely the best feeling because we hadn't beaten them — I moved here last year, but I'd heard that we hadn't beaten them in the four years that the seniors have been here. It's just feels so good to beat your rivals twice."

Pinkerton has scored at least 41 points against each opponent this season except Londonderry,  but in two games against the Lancers, the defending state runners-up were held to eight points or fewer in seven of the eight quarters the two have played. Londonderry defeated Pinkerton 52-33 on Jan. 14.

"No question," Londonderry coach John Fagula said when asked if his defense was what stymied the Astros. "Their strength is their three-guard shooting, and they still got a couple especially in the first half. But I think for the most part, defensively we give them just enough pressure to make them have to work to bring the ball up. Maybe a couple steals or turnovers here or there, and then make them have to attack us inside. We haven't seen that threat, so we know we just have to stay hard on the guards.

"(The Astros are) content to play that slow-down, we'll-beat-you-8-to-10-type game, but our kids made enough baskets to put them in a situation where they had to play faster than they wanted to. That fits into what we want to do."

Leading 16-14 at halftime, Londonderry used a 16-5 run over the first 7 minutes of the third to break open things. Savannah Butterfield, who helped the Lancers with eight first-half points, capped off the run with a layup.

Londonderry continued stretching the lead continually through the final period, when Pinkerton managed only two points the first 6:38. Eleven different Lancers scored at least 1 point with Butterfield's 12 leading the way.

"Our numbers are usually a help to us," Fagula said. "We can play a lot of different styles of basketball and with the numbers keep fresh kids in there. You hope sooner or later that numbers game will pay of for you because other teams have to substitute or they're going to get into foul trouble or simply run out of gas."

Pinkerton, which did not attempt a free throw was paced by Danielle Kimball's 16 points. Scoring was so rare in the opening half that even though the Astros were held scoreless the first 7 minutes of the game, Kimball's 3-pointer with 63 seconds remaining in the first quarter gave Pinkerton a 3-2 lead.

"The first time we played them they were up 18-2, so I decided not to play the game so aggressively offensively," Pinkerton coach John Barry said. "The first half it worked fine. So, it wasn't so much them defending us as much as it was us not shooting the basketball much. Then we had a little breakdown in the second half, and got a little too much behind for that style to work."

The two teams won't play again this season unless both reach the state semifinals and seeding doesn't appear to concern either coach, although being on the opposite side fo the bracket from four-time defending champion Winnacunnet isn't a disappointment.

"It was pretty much a given that we were either going to be two or three," Fagula said. "The fact that it didn't really change our brackets didn't matter that much. Second or third doesn't matter. You're on the same (side of the bracket)."

Barry agreed.

"Second seed, third seed isn't that big of a deal," he said. "As long as we're not the fourth seed, we'll take third place. That's great. I don't really care too much about the standings to be honest. You have to go play well."