Hollis Brookline girls basketball pulls away in the second half to top Goffstown

HOLLIS – When the Hollis Brookline High School girls basketball team is at its best, everyone is contributing.

That was the case in Tuesday night’s Division II preliminary round game against Goffstown, as the No. 6 Cavaliers had four players score in double figures, on the way to a 59-40 win over the No. 11 Grizzlies.

The win sends HB (14-5) to the quarterfinals, where it will face No. 3 Bishop Brady, which knocked off No. 14 Pembroke, on Saturday.

Cassandra Stapelfeld led the way for the Cavs, scoring 21 points, including three 3-pointers, while Kenzie Day also hit three 3s and finished with 12 points. Joanna Balsamo (12 points) and Brodie Kelley (10 points, two 3s) were also in double figures.

“When we have four players in double figures, we usually win the game,” HB coach Bob Murphy said. “We have the weapons on this team and when you have that, we score a lot of points. It’s tough when you go out, Cassandra scores 30 and no one else scores. That’s happened. When you spread it out like that, we’re a tough team to cover.”

Goffstown (10-9) found that out when the teams met in the regular season, a game the Cavs won by 20 points. But after an early run by HB, the Grizzlies were able to slow the Cavs down by using a box-and-one defense on Stapelfeld.

The Grizzlies trailed by five at halftime, but Goffstown was unable to get much going inside, as nine of the team’s 15 field goals on the night were 3s. And when the outside shots stopped falling in the second half, the Grizzlies fell further behind.

“Our lack of height inside definitely hurt us,” Goffstown coach Ian Horseman said. “We’ve adapted our style of play, but it didn’t quite go our way. Pretty inconsistent, but a lot of the kids are young. We struggled, but we competed in the first half and we were where we wanted to be.”

Kelly Walsh led the Grizzlies with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, while Sofia Piriz added nine points.

HB led for almost all of the first half, going up 21-14 early in the second quarter thanks in part to its ability to dominate the offensive glass, with Elizabeth Atkinson leading the way. To that point, the Cavs had outrebounded Goffstown 9-1 on their end of the floor, and scored seven second-chance points.

“I think we had a good balance of inside and outside and we were all hitting,” Stapelfeld said. “We had a lot of people putting the ball in the basket and that’s what we need.”

But with 5:23 left in the half, Atkinson picked up her second foul and went to the bench for the rest of the half. That allowed Goffstown to switch its defense and the Grizzlies were able to take advantage on both ends, cutting the lead to five, 29-24, at halftime.

The Cavs opened the second half with an 8-0 run to go up 12 and outscored Goffstown 17-8 in the third quarter to take control of the game.

“Haley (Modelski) did a good job when she came in for (Atkinson), but she’s still not 6-foor-1,” Murphy said. “Elizabeth got in foul trouble. It was so tempting to go in to here under the basket, but as soon as she was getting the ball, she was triple teamed. What she did well was when she got the ball, she kicked it out.”

HB’s shooters took advantage, hitting their shots, and every time the Grizzlies seemed poised to make a run, the Cavs had an answer. Goffstown got within eight, 48-40, on a 3 by Kasey Britton-Doucette with 5:13 left, but HB ended the game on an 11-0 run.

The Cavs will travel to face Bishop Brady on Saturday for the teams’ second meeting in eight days. The Giants beat HB in the regular-season finale, 67-57, on Feb. 24.