Girl's D1 Playoffs

I have to give some much needed love and Pub to the D1 Girls. The Prelims were held last night and all the upper seeds held serve except for:

THE # 5 SEED.

The now dreaded #5 seed. #12 Dover upset #5 Salem 65 to 49. Both D1 #5 seeds were ousted in D1 basketball with BG also losing to Memorial on Tuesday. I guess Jack Quirk was right when he said tell teams not to finish #5 in NH. In the last 2 years 3 #5 seeds have been ousted in the prelims in D1 girls and boys basketball. Memorial lost to Dover boys last season in the 12/5 game. Dover has been the fortunate recipient of 2 of the 3 #12 upsets.

The Alvirne at Winny game went down to the wire with Winny prevailing. All the other prelims had a good winning margin. Don't let Trinity's 14 point margin over Memorial fool you. This game was a very close and intense battle for 30 minutes until the Lady Pioneers pulled away with made FTs at the end. I haven't watched the Road Runner/ Wiley E. Coyote cartoon for some time, but it was on display last night in the McHugh Gym from 7 to 8:30 pm last night:

http://www.nhnotebook.com/2014/03/trinity-defeats-memorial-60-46-in.html


Looking ahead to the Quarterfinals:

Trinity at Bedford - Trinity will have their work cut out for them. Bedford has some faster and stronger Wiley's that can keep up with the Trinity Road Runner, Amanda Torres.

Dover at North - The Titans handled The Wave fairly easily in the regular season by 17. It is the new season though.

Winny at Londonderry: The Lady Lancers had no problem with Winny in their regular season game. I'm expecting a solid W for Londonderry in this game.

Pinkerton at BG: What Pinkerton team shows up at the Lund Rd court will dictate what type of game this will be. The Astros won the regular season meeting by 13, then they lost 2 of their next 3 games to fall to the #6 seed. This game should be very close and who ever shoots the ball better will prevail. Points will be tough to come by.

T and F:

Having sat with you at McHugh last night, I have to agree with you regarding the future of girls' hoops in Manchester. Trinity's young threesome of Torres, Roberge and Kolden are going to be something special. Memorial has the same with Marazzi and Laniyan. Central has some amazing freshmen in their program, most notably Sydney Richard. Perhaps the focus of the D1 universe will swing from the seacoast and Nashua to the Queen City - and very soon.

The game to watch Saturday will be on Lund Rd. Bedford, Londonderry and Nashua should all punch their tickets to SNHU, but the Pinkerton/BG game will be a battle. Both teams have speed, scorers and size. Both have been shown to be gritty competitors. I suspect the gym will be sold out. I intend to be there!

NHRamFan

One of MY PEOPLE told me not to sleep on Dover against North.........  

Attended the Pinkerton/BG game last night....or most of it! It seems that game times were moved all over the place. Bedford/Trinity went to 6. BG/Pinky 630. North/Dover 730. Agree with Coach Faulkner that the future is bright - remember these names: Dee; Cramb; Fields; Zajac. Add in Shields and Pelletier and BG will be a title contender next year. Unfortunately for Jamie Sherbourne, this, her senior year, is a sandwich year between great BG teams. She did everything she could, however, to will BG to a win last night. The Astros had other plans. They never quit, and although the game was a bit sloppy Pinkerton made the key shots and free throws at the right time. Next up: Londonderry. These two teams always play each other tough, and Londonderry now seems to be on a mission with Simpson back. Prediction: Londonderry
T & F: made the quick jaunt over to North after the BG game. Got there in time to see the CSI investigators all over the place! North ran Dover out of the gym early and often. Next up: Bedford. Surprised by their 20 point margin over Trinity - expected it to be larger, but Bedford will still be the favorite in the semis. North's athleticism and speed will make this a tight game, but Bedford has too many weapons. Prediction: Bedford.

Final next Saturday: Londonderry vs. Bedford. Coach Fagula in his last HS game of a storied, successful career. Bedford with a chance for a repeat. Both teams have a shot at this. Too close to make a prediction - but will be fun to watch!

For the life of me I don't know why all the game times were all over the place. They should have set times for ALL THE GAMES and go with it. I understand there's issues with other things happening in gyms, but usually not on a Saturday night.

Bedford just had too much for North tonight in beating them 68 to 31. This game was close for about the first quarter and then Bedford busted it open at the start of the 2nd period with a quick run and never looked back. Bedford had a nice balanced attack with Collins with 17, Brown 13, Driscoll 12 and Tucci 9. North had tough luck with Adaeze Okorie's hip flexor injury which limited her to 10 minutes of playing time and zero points.

The Pinkerton - Londonderry game was tight from start to finish with the Lady Lancers winning 42 to 38. This game was a carbon copy of their first 2 games in the regular season. Kayla Stacy had a great game in a losing effort. Bonneau had a nice game for Pinkerton also. Aliza Simpson looked liked she was only about 80%. Her conditioning is an issue with the layoff from the knee injury. She struggled through stages of the game trying to summon up the physical resolve to compete with the Astros. Her shot was off because she has to do so much for Londonderry and with not being 100% her offensive game suffers. The Lady Lancers gutted out this W over Pinkerton tonight. Bedford has a lot of bodies to throw at Simpson to wear her down in the Ship. Collins, Purcell, Tucci and Glennon can all take their defensive turns against Simpson. Bedford has a couple of subs who can chip away at her also. This won't be good for Londonderry Sunday night at 6 pm.