Both sides see room for improvement in Bishop Guertin girls basketball’s win over Bedford

BEDFORD – It may have been the first regular-season game of January, but Friday’s tilt between the Bishop Guertin and Bedford high school girls basketball team had the intensity of a March matchup.

There were special game plans, with both sides making adjustments along the way, and while each coach thought the other side played well, both Brad Kreick and Kevin Gibbs felt there was room for improvement for the Cardinals and Bulldogs, respectively.

Bedford got off to a great start, but Bishop Guertin outscored the Bulldogs 31-11 over an 11-minute stretch in the middle of the game, and the Cardinals withstood a run by Bedford late in the third quarter for a 65-46 win in a Division I game.

Brianna Wilcox scored 11 of her 17 points in the second half to lead Bishop Guertin (3-0) while Erin Carney had 16 points and Addison Smith was also in double figures with 13 points. But after the Cardinals went up 46-26 early in the third quarter, the Bulldogs closed out the frame with an 11-0 run to make it a much closer finish.

“Not our best,” Kreick said. “I want to look at the film. There were some things about the game, particularly in the third quarter, that didn’t feel right to me. I’m going to reserve judgement until the staff has a chance to look at the film.

“You get up 20 (points) on somebody, especially a good, proud team like that, and you don’t put them away, that’s not a good sign. I don’t know if that was fatigue or lack of focus, I’m not sure. The film is usually pretty telling.”

Whatever it is, Kreick is confident it will be something the Cardinals can, and will, fix.

“There were some good things I think we can build on,” the coach said. “Anyone who watched this basketball game would appreciate that we’re really early on in the season. We’re a work in progress to put it kindly. We have great kids and they’ll do the work and we’ll be fine.”

Bedford (1-1) got 21 points from Isbella King, while Allison Morgan was also in double figures with 14 points, including three 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs were able to jump out to an early lead, but had to get away from their game plan in the second quarter when the Cardinals made some adjustments.

“We came out and did just what we wanted to do,” Gibbs said. “We had a game plan and we executed it fairly well. They made a nice adjustment. We came out with a specific zone and they did a nice job of putting somebody short corner.

“We were covering that well but what hurt us is we were having trouble covering the big coming down the lane. We made the adjustment, but it was a little too late and that’s why we took the zone off.”

Morgan gave Bedford a 15-13 lead with a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the first quarter, but Smith was fouled in the final seconds of the first and made both free throws to tie the game at the end of one. Carney opened the second with a 3 and a basket to put Bishop Guertin up 20-15, but a three-point play by King made it a two-point game.

The Cardinals responded with a 14-3 run, going up 34-21 on a 3-pointer by Mazie Barker with 1:24 left in the half. Bedford got within 12 points at halftime, but Bishop Guertin went on a 10-2 run to open the third.

“Our depth helped a little bit,” Kreick said. “We got into the bench and we were able to keep the pace up. We got a little bit of a lead there and kind of kept that intensity up. That’s about depth.

“I’ve told everybody that has asked me about it, we’re not going to win with six or seven (players). We need eight, nine, 10 to play the kind of style that we play. We’re in the process of figuring out who those 10 kids are, but we don’t know yet.”

Morgan started to turn things around for Bedford with a steal and a score, and after a 3 by King, the senior guard hit two 3s to get the Bulldogs back within nine points, 46-37, at the end of the quarter.

But the Cardinals opened the fourth with an 11-4 run to go back up by 16 points and they were able to close out the win.

“When we got it back to nine (points), I was feeling pretty good, but then a turnover here and a missed shot there, they can extend (the lead) pretty quickly,” Gibbs said. “They’re like the Winnacunnet (teams) of old. They’ll give up two or three baskets if they can knock down five or six of their own.

“Overall, there’s a lot to build on. They’re going to get better and we’re going to get better.”