Bishop Guertin girls basketball holds off Bedford to win second straight D1 title

MANCHESTER – The top-seeded Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team won its second straight Division I championship by beating No. 3 Bedford 52-49 on Saturday at Southern New Hampshire University.

Molly Dee led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 15 of her 18 points in the first half, while Meghan Cramb added 13 points and Caroline Hoffer also had a big first half, scoring nine of her 12 points.

“We played together, this is the best team I have even been on,” said Cramb, the Assumption College-bound guard who is usually the star senior on the court, but she was glad to play a supporting role to fellow senior Dee on Saturday.

The game opened with a quick 7-2 run by BG (19-1), and while the Cardinals led from start to finish, Bedford was able to battle back.

“My team is comfortable being down,” Bedford coach Sue Thomas said. “We always come back. Except for the second BG game, even the Pinkerton game we trailed, but my girls fought back.”

At halftime, BG had a 32-22 lead.

“That first half was all about the poise of my seniors,” BG coach Brad Kreick said.

The second half opened with a lot of good back-and-forth basketball, with Bedford (18-3) turning a 10-point halftime deficit down to seven. But with 2:43 remaining in the third quarter, it looked like BG was going to run away with the game.

Cramb made a layup, she stole the inbound pass and made another layup. On the very next inbound pass, two of the three freshman standouts for BG, Hannah Muchmore and Erin Carney, teamed up with a steal, assist, and layup combination, stretching the Cardinals lead from seven to 13 in a 20-second flurry.

Bedford was able to make the game close again with an 8-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarter, highlighted by two Jenoyce Laniyan layups.

With 6:06 remaining in the game, Bedford’s Alexis Meservey made a 3-point basket to get the game to 44-42. This two-point margin was as close as the Bulldogs would get with Carney leading the way and controlling the ball in the final minutes.

Even though the game was much higher scoring than last season – the Cardinals won 35-31 a year ago – BG’s defense played the best it ever has according to Kreick.

“Our defense was really good (Saturday) and our offense comes from our defense,” the coach said.

BG finished the game with a 12-5 advantage on steals and a 4-0 advantage on blocks.

In the loss Bedford was led by Laniyan, who had 13 points, while Alyson Fillion added seven points.

“We were clearly the underdog coming into this game,” Thomas said. “I do not think anyone thought this game was going to be as close as it was. I prefer saying we are the best public school in the state. These girls do not play together until they get on the court in November and to come together like this is something special.”

Bedford looks ahead to next season, graduating four seniors, but with five of the top seven players returning things look positive for next season. BG is not done yet. Even though the Cardinals are graduating four senior starters, five of their top nine are returning.