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Cardinals come back with a vengance vs. Pinkerton

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Jan 24, 2020

Telegraph photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin's Brooke Paquette drives against Pinkerton's Allison Ingalls during the Cards' 65-32 win Thursday night at the Colligadome.

NASHUA – The look on the face Thursday night of Pinkerton Academy girls basketball coach Lani Buskey, and her brief comment with a shrug, told the story.

“BG lives in its own world,” she said, referring to the Bishop Guertin Cardinals, who had just pasted her team 65-32. “We hang around.”

For awhile, the Cardinals were sharing their world with the Astros, actually trailing at the half against a New Hampshire opponent for the first time in recent memory – a likely two-year span – 25-23 at the Colligadome.

What happened thereafter was the Division I girls basketball version of a bomb cyclone. Twelve minutes into the second half the Astros had scored three points, and Guertin, which began the third quarter with a 13-0 run, was all set for its eighth win. It was a 42-7 second half.

What the heck happened to change things that quickly, that soundly?

“We just came together, we needed to come together like we usually do,” said Cardinal senior leader Erin Carney, who led all scorers with 21 points and is six away from the 1,000-point career mark. “We couldn’t let this one slip away from us. … It was a little different, but it opened our eyes a lot. We needed to come out and play our basketball, it was a real game.”

Brad Kreick said his message to his 8-0 (9-2 overall) team at halftime was simple.

“We had to defend first,” he said. “Everybody’s going to focus on how we struggled offensively in the first half and so forth, but it wasn’t about that. We did, but it was about the fact we were getting bullied defensively, and just didn’t defend well. Some halves you’re going to score, and some you’re not going to score, but giving up 25 is not good for us.”

The Astros had nine turnovers in a three-plus minute span to start the third period. Kreick told his team to keep running, and they obliged, leading 50-27 after three. Pinkerton’s only points were a Alyssa DiMauro layup with 4:15 left in the third. To make it worse for the 6-2 visitors, who saw their six-game winning streak snapped, key sophomore guard Casey Ames went down in a heap with a non-contact injury.

“A little shocke and awe,” Buskey said was her team’s reaction. “Then the Casey injury didn’t help matters. We literally said they’re going to come guns a-blazing, because they’re not going to be happy. They came guns a-blazing, and we just didn’t adapt well.”

Bri Wilcox had 15 points for the Cards while Addison Smith added 11. Allison Ingalls led Pinkerton with 11.

“We’re not down two at the half here not very much,” Kreick said. “I was proud of the way they reacted, very happy with how they responded to the challenge.”

This is a week of challenges for the Cardinals, who beat Memorial in a very competitive game on the road and now host Connecticut’s Mercy High School on Saturday. We’ll see how the next opponent takes to BG’s world.

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