Lexi Bausha, shown making a key hoop in the second half of the Division II semifinals, has been a key to Milford's depth this season. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

A year ago, the Milford High School girls basketball team suffered through a competitive but still sub-par season.

The Spartans lost arguably their best player, Lulu Maguire, to a knee injury suffered in the Nashua Holiday Tournament. They didn’t have the depth needed to overcome that loss.

Fast forward to March of 2025. Maguire has made her way back, and the Spartans added even another piece to what they hope is their championship puzzle, Lexi Bausha, who transferred from Wilton Lyndeborough. Maguire had a key free throw in Milford’s semifinal win the other day over Derryfield, and Bausha had the big 3-pointer to give Milford the lead for good.

And now it’s on to the finals, and on the big Lundholm Gym floor at the University of New Hampshire, No. 2 Milford (17-3) will need everyone to beat No. 4 Oyster River (17-4) beginning at 12 p.m. on Saturday.

Milford coach Mike Davidson is happy Maguire got to play again.

“I’m extremely happy she’s been able to play as strong as she has,” he said. “She probably hasn’t had the playing time she wants or even deserves, but she’s made a big impact.”

She, Bausha and Maguire are three 3-point shooters on the wing that teams have to cover. And that opens up the middle for the bigger players.

“That’s why we are where we are,” Davidson said.

And you add Bausha, it all is a nice package. Davidson has Wilton coaching legend Denny Claire on the staff – Spartan Claire Cote is his grandaughter – , and back in June he asked Davidson if there might be room for one more on the Spartans’ summer league team. That one was Bausha.

“It was a tough pill for her to swallow when she came to Milford because she wasn’t the whole show,” Davidson said. “At Wilton, she was the show. I think she had in the neighborhood of 480 points. With us, she’s happy to have seven, eight, nine. She’s one of many on this team; it was a different world for her, but I think she excelled at it.”

Bausha said being at a larger school is what she wanted.

“Honestly, just getting better at basketball,” Bausha said. “And Milford has a lot more opportunities (academically) because it’s a bigger school. They have like four times the people in the school so I wanted a better opportunity for myself.”

It helped that she knew a lot of the Spartans already. But did she think she’d be in the finals?

“Honestly? Yeah, I think so,” she said. “I knew the starters Ellie (Ellianna Nassy), Avery (Fuller), Claire (Cote) and Shea (Hansen), I knew they all stuck together when they were little. I just wanted to join them to make it five. And Lulu too.”

FIRST MEETING

The Bobcats beat the Spartans 63-58 back on Jan. 24, a game in which ironically Davidson felt was one of his team’s lackluster efforts “in getting back on defense. They started to recognize we were not having our proper rotation in the press to get back and cover the paint – and they exposed it. They probably had 20 transition points, maybe more.”

Maguire made a couple of key 3-pointers, the game was tied twice in the fourth quarter but Oyster River pulled away at the foul line.

The Bobcats have gotten back an injured player, 5-7 senior Caitlin Klein, “and she’s a big factor,” Davidson said, noting she gives some defensive toughness and key hoops. Also, the ‘Cats have a 1,000 point scorer, Vivian O’Quinn.

CONTENDER STATUS

“There’s nobody that’s too good for us to beat, you know?” Davidson said, basically meaning his team is on par with the other contenders. “Now whether we actually win or not … We can play with pretty much anybody. In previous years, there’d be Bow or Kennett, or someone, and I’m ‘Uhhh, we’ll never beat them.’

“It’s going to come down to can we put out the kind of defensive effort that we did last night?

“I’m sure (the Bobcats) will be ready for whatever we run at them. …

“We’re definitely feeling good.”

The Spartans had their hands out on everything with over 30 deflections. It was, hands down, their best defensive effort of the season.

“For sure,” Davidson said. “The thing is, we have to do it again.”

And on a bigger court.

“We’ll just have to be ready for it,” Davidson said. “This is it.”