Staff photo by TOM KING The Bishop Guertin girls basketball team was a happy group after upsetting previously unbeaten Bedford, 52-50, in Thursday night's Divison I semifinals.

MANCHESTER – Only one game remains between the Bishop Guertin girls’ basketball team and a third straight state championship.

Fifth seeded Bishop Guertin defeated top seed Bedford in the NHIAA Division I girls basketball semifinals on Thursday night, 52-50. Thursday’s win continued a stretch that has not seen them lose a game to a New Hampshire-based opponent in almost two months. The two sides held close throughout the first half, but the Cardinals began to pull away when the two teams returned to the floor. Bishop Guertin almost doubled Bedford’s offensive tally in the third quarter, building a lead that grew as large as ten points.

Bedford began to work its way back early in the fourth quarter, bringing the game back within four points with just over five minutes left to play.

The Cardinals attempted to bleed the clock, but Mia Roy’s 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in the contest brought the game back within one score and the Cardinals needed a response.

They got one from senior Caroline Hoffer, whose pair of free throws just seconds later put the game one of reach once and for all.

Bishop Guertin head coach Brad Kreick credited Hoffer as the difference putting Bishop Guertin over the top.

“The kid’s an absolute stud,” said Kreick. “She’s got a heart of a champion and she’s got two state championships under her belt. I think I’ve said on a number of occasions, we missed her desperately in the first three, four weeks of the season when she was out with an injury. She’s just everything to us.”

Bishop Guertin’s last loss was to Bedford on Jan. 16, a five-point loss in Bedford. Kreick

admits that the Bulldogs were the better team on that day, crediting the late season schedule for his squad’s change since then.

Following the Bedford loss, Bishop Guertin played an out-of-state game against Mercy and tournament-bound opponents in six of their of their final eight in-state contests.

“I think you saw a much more mature group tonight,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to do when we set the schedule up, because we wanted to be our best come March.”

Hoffer led all scorers with 20 points, including three baskets from beyond the arc in the second half. Ava Owens also contributed 10 points for the Cardinals.

Aly Fillion led Bedford with 18 points, followed by 11 from Lizzy Stevenson.

The Cardinals return to Southern New Hampshire University at 4 p.m. on Saturday to face second-seeded Pinkerton for the state title.

Bishop Guertin defeated Pinkerton in their final game of the regular season, but Krieck knows that nothing is certain when a championship is on the line.

“I think Pinkerton is just a fantastic team. They’re really well coached, they’re disciplined,” he said. “We’re going to have to play our best game of the year to beat that team. Otherwise, they will be state champions.”