Division I Girls Tournament

The NHIAA just posted the playoff bracket for D1 Girls. There was one matchup that burned a hole right through the center of my Dell screen:

#13 Central Little Green at #4 Memorial Crusaders Wednesday March 2nd at 7:00 pm.

Wow, this announcement is as dramatic as Kirk Douglas giving away the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Oscars last night. As Kirk Douglas would say, "Let me just say" this about this Central at Memorial matchup:

I have some tasty thoughts swirling around in my basketball mind for this game. When the tasty thoughts stop swirling and settle down I will post a preview of this game. I'm just trying to deal with the notion of Memorial not hosting Merrimack and Central not visiting Dover Wed. evening.

#7 BG is still hosting #10 Trinity in what should be a close matchup. #6 Alvrine hosts #11 South in another good one. #8 Timberlane looks to get revenge on #9 North for their 18 point regular season loss to the Titans.

Head still swirling - leaving now to let the thoughts settle down.

When are these games?

Prelims are Wednesday March 2nd at 7:00 pm.

Quarterfinals are Saturday March 5th at the home gym of the higher seed.

Semi Finals are Wednesday March 9th at 5:30 and 7:30 pm at SNHU.

Championship is Saturday March 12th at 7:30 pm at SNHU.

FWIW: The BG v. Trinity game is at 5PM tomorrow.

Here we go with the Prelims:

#16 Spaulding at #1 Winny: I think I'll take Winny. I think they'll win big. Going out on a limb aren't I?

#9 North at #8 Timberlane: North has lost 4 of their last 6. Timby has won 7 of their last 9. I'll go with the team on a better season ending roll and take Timby at home.

#12 Merrimack at #5 Dover: There is a lot to be said for an excellent senior player not wanting her and her team's season to end. Rachel Carter must score at least 16 to 20 for Merry to pull off the upset. It might happen. I'll go with Merry in the upset.

#15 Keene at #2 Londonderry: Does Keene stand a chance in this one? Sure and winter has a chance of ending soon. Lancers move on.

#10 Trinity at #7 BG: I'm really up in the air on this one. BG has lost 4 of their last 7, but their losses have been to good teams. Trinity has won 5 of their last 7, but their 5 wins have been against weaker opponents. I just have a hunch Emily Marro will push the Pioneers to victory over the young Cardinals. Remember what I said about seniors not wanting their season to end.

#14 Salem at #3 Pinkerton: I'm fairly certain Coach Barry will remind his players what happened in their prelim game last year when the Lady Astros were almost upset in the #15 vs #2 game. Go with Pinkerton.

#11 South at #6 Alvrine: Alvrine lost at South 3 weeks ago 49 - 46. You have 2 of the best players in the state going at each other in Alvrine's Purcell and South's Ackerman. I think Alvrine will do a better job defending Ackerman than South will do defending Purcell and this will be the difference for a very close Alvrine victory.

Saved the best for last:
#13 Central at #4 Memorial: Central played inspired basketball in losing a tight one at Memorial on Feb. 18th 39 - 33. Memorial was fortunate to get a W in this game. You have the factor of both teams losing a practice or two preparing for this game because both teams spent 1 - 2 practices preparing for different opponents. Central thought they were travelling to Dover and Memorial thought they were hosting Merrimack. A clerical error in home/away games for Dover made this intra city rivalry prelim game come to fruition. 1 practice or 4 practices.... What don't these players and coaches not know about each other at this stage of the season? It's real simple. If Memorial has a fluid flow to their offense early it will spell trouble for the Little Green. Memorial has a tendency to struggle offensively for long stretches of games. If they can avoid this playoff pot hole they will be very successful this evening, but if the Crusaders struggle early and Central feeds off the old adage of "hanging around in a game", then the pressure mounts for the Crusaders. I've heard Coach Wenners has had a certain "sky falling in on chicken little" thing going on lately. I'm not buying it. You don't coach a whole season not to give it your best shot in the playoffs. The Little Green will be ready to play tonight and this will be a low scoring close game. Memorial's over all talent with Gendron, Elozovic and company will give them the tight victory.

Win or lose Coach Wenners will be holding court around 9:00 to 9:30 pm this evening at a famous Manchester establishment at the corner of Tarrytown Rd. and Massabesic St.

No big suprises as of so far for the Girls D1 Torney: All the Higher seeds have advanced to the 2nd round right now according to NHIAA
Winnacunnet 57
Spaulding 35


Timberlane Regional 45
Nashua North 33


Dover 59
Merrimack 51


Pinkerton Academy 51
Salem 37


Alvirne 53
Nashua South 38

Just hit refresh and BG beat Trinity 45-36

Memorial over Central 47-46 looks like a great game.
T&F any details on this one?

abball: The Memorial - Central game was 2 games. The 1st to 3rd quarter was the 1st game. The 4th quarter was the 2nd game. Memorial had a comfortable 36 to 20 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter (Game 1) and then Central mounted a furious comeback in the 4th (Game 2) out scoring Memorial 26 - 11. If the 4th quarter was a movie it would be entitled:

"The Curious Case of Memorial Relinquishing a Lead."

I will be posting a full recap on another site we all know well and I will be posting more thoughts here.

The top 8 seeds advanced in the girl's prelims which is very unusual. No upsets.

I heard Emily Marro had 18 in the Trinity loss to BG.

Gendron and Elezovic combined for 33 of Memorial's 47 points. Senior Olivia Lacroix had an outstanding last game for the Little Green with 24 points, including 15 fourth quarter points.

Sounds like a very goodnight for the girls, who do you like T&F Is there any way anyone can take down winn? Im saying no, i dont think its going to happen. I believe winn is going to win it all again and keep the streak going.

I do believe Winny is the favorite abball. They have more chinks in the armour than they did last year. Londonderry could beat them. If Butterfield and Cloutier stay out of foul trouble and do some serious scoring damage in the paint the Lancers could take down Winny. Outside of Londonderry I don't really see any one as having a legitimate shot at them.

This takes nothing away from the 3 teams, not named Winny, that make it to the Final Four. That is a really fun evening at SNHU. For some programs it is a validation for a season well done.

The quarterfinal night will be exciting. The Dover at Memorial game will be close. The Alvrine at Pinkerton game will be close and is a rivalry game. Londonderry only beat BG 58 - 55 in the regular season. I'm banking on the top 4 seeds advancing to the Final Four at SNHU, but it wouldn't surprise me to see one upset.

Memorial 43 Dover 31

Memorial had a very balanced scoring attack which help them defeat the Green Wave this evening. Senior Christa Sopel lead Memorial with 10 points. Danielle Fletcher had 7 points including going 5 - 6 from the FT line in the 4th quarter which was huge for the Crusaders. Hartford and Elezovic each had 6 points. Memorial was 13 - 17 from the line including shooting 11 - 13 from the charity stripe in the 4th quarter.

Junior Allie Mahan paced Dover with 13 points. Senior Megan Walcek chipped in with 8 points.

Alvrine beat Pinkerton 38 to 36. This isn't really considered an upset.

Londonderry laid the wood to BG 63 - 44.

Winny destroyed Timby 70 - 27.

Alvrine will play Londonderry this Wednesday at 5:30 pm at SNHU in the first semi final. Memorial will square off with Winny in the nightcap semi final at 7:30 pm.