Keene's Izzy Payne has a tough time getting a clean shot off against the BG trio of Madison Long (14), Alena Scoggins and Kayden Rioux (15) during Tuesday night's Division I clash at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA — The biggest offense for a Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team is not playing defense.

Especially when, well, the offense isn’t always there.

That was the case for the Cardinals in their 53-35 win over Keene in a key mid-level Division I contest. Guertin’s offense wasn’t clicking until its defense, good throughout, proved overwhelming mid-third quarter on.

“It’s just the motivation not to lose,” Guertin’s Olivia Baker said. “Just winning was the most important part of it, we want to be in a good playoff spot.”

The win puts the Cards at 9-7 with two games left, and they’d love to win out and maybe, just maybe get a home playoff game.

“I would say for us defensively was and is the biggest piece,” Cards coach Liv Orlando said. “Especially when we struggled to shoot it from the outside. It was clear tonight and it’s been clear for our last couple. But by getting stops we’re able to turn those into layups, higher percentage shots for us. That’s great.

But that’s really what is driving our offense, that’s when we are best offensively when we can get stops, or turn teams over and get in transition.”

That’s BG’s game; it has been all season.

Baker had a trey that gave the Cards a 27-14 lead early in the third quarter to cap a 5-0 run after being up 22-14 at the half. But Keene went on a run on its own , closing to within 33-29 after a trey by point guard and leading scorer Margaitis. But then Thalia Drapeau had a traditional three-point play as part of her team-high 16 point effort, Baker then hit a 3-pointer and the Cards were up 41-31 with 1:20 left in the third. It was basically over.

One reason was that the ‘Birds, now 8-8, were limited on offense as top player Harper Zalaski left the gym feeling ill right at the game’s start. Margaitis (game-high 19 points) did what she could but with no sidekick and BG’s defense, it was too much to overcome.

“We had to adjust on the fly, our leading scorer went home sick,” Keene coach Ryan Margaitis said. “So we had to adjust to that. We struggled a bit adjusting to that.We cut it to four or five in the third quarter, and then we ran out of gas.”

Bishop Guertin’s Bridget Hill goes up for two vs. Keene’s Isabell Parham Brown during Tuesday night’s game at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Baker finished with eight points and Hailey McGowan had 10 for BG .Keene had no one else close to double figures.

“We struggled a bit with the press for sure, but we missed some clean shots on this end and that hurts,” Margaitis said. “They defended well but we didn’t help ourselves out.”

And now the jockeying for position continues for the next week until things end next Tuesday. Guertin is at 10-6 Timberlane on Friday and then host Winnacunnet next Tuesday to wrap it up.

If the Cards can play this kind of defense heading into the postseason, they’d be a team no one wants to face.

“Our strength of schedule really speaks for itself,” Orlando said. “And we’ve played really talented teams. Have we always gotten the outcome we want? No, but it’s really making us better. To come together this time of year will be super helpful in terms of a playoff push.”