Milford beats Pembroke to advance in D2 girls basketball playoffs

MILFORD – If the Pembroke Academy girls basketball team was going to upset Milford in Tuesday night’s playoff game, it was going to have throw everything it could its opponent.

Pembroke did just that, constantly switching up its defense, and for a little more than a half, it worked. But two second-half runs by Milford helped the Spartans (the home team in the white uniforms) beat the Spartans (the road team in green uniforms) 64-48 in the preliminary round of the Division II tournament.

The win sends No. 4 Milford into the quarterfinals, where it will face No. 12 St. Thomas, which did upset No. 5 Hollis Brookline, also on Tuesday.

It’s also the first time the Milford girls basketball program has won a playoff game in at least 21 years.

“I’m kind of at a loss for words right now,” Milford senior Dina Pitsas said. “Our team pulled through. I’m so proud of everyone, they all stepped up when it counted.”

That included Pitsas, who scored 16 of her game-high 27 points in the second half when Milford was in need of a comeback.

After fighting back to tie the game at halftime, Milford fell behind to start the third quarter, as Pembroke went on a 9-0 run to go up 35-26 just 2:05 into the second half.

But Milford answered with a 10-0 run to take the lead late in the third, and then in the fourth, the Spartans went on an 11-1 run to take control of the game.

“First half, the hype of the first home playoff game got the best of us,” Milford coach Steve Signor said. “We settled down. Offensively we struggled in the first half. We struggled.

“It was a testament to (Pembroke), switching up their defenses early in the game. They gave us some different looks. We adjusted and talked about it at halftime. They got that quick lead in the third, but after that, our defense held them. That turned into some great offense in the fourth.”

Adelle Pitsas added nine points for Milford (14-5) and Kaitlyn Matthews came off the bench to score eight and provide the Spartans with what Signor called a “spark.”

No. 13 Pembroke (8-11) got 14 points each from Hannah Seidner and Aleanna Clermont but after taking that nine-point lead in the third, the Spartans scored just four points over the next 10 minutes.

“Fourth quarter they had great help defense, so when we came around our first screen, we had a wall of defense waiting for us,” Pembroke coach James Thorpe said. “They started pulling away, mainly with them making free throws and getting to the free throw line, and them getting a lot of offensive rebounds. They were winning the 50-50 balls that we’re trying to get our team to chase. I think that was the difference in the fourth quarter.”

Despite its efforts to slow down Dina Pitsas, Pembroke wasn’t able to after the early minutes of the game. The senior was able to get to the basket, and often times get to the free throw line, where she was 11 of 17 on the night.

“Last Friday, we struggled on free throws,” Pitsas said. “Personally, I spent at least a half an hour doing free throws (on Monday) because there is no way that’s happening again. Without those free throws, that game might not have gone that way.”

Pembroke tried to use different defenses to confuse Milford and contain Pitsas, but it only worked for a half.

“We had a variety of defense that we practice,” Thorpe said. “The box-and-one is one of them. We have a 1-3-1 half court and we also do a man-to-man, with the focus being keeping an eye on (Pitsas) when she drives. I think we did well against her, but she still ended up with a lot of points. That goes to show what a great player she is.”

For the first time since the split, Milford will play a quarterfinal game when it hosts St. Thomas on Friday at 7 p.m. The teams played in the regular-season finale last Friday, with Milford winning 47-33.

“We talked about it before the game, that we kind of have these chapters that we have before every game and we started at chapter four (Tuesday),” Signor said. “I told them I wanted to get to chapter seven, that will be when we’re at SNHU in the finals. I’m saving the best for last and hopefully, we can get to that point.”