DURHAM – Brad Kreick didn’t hesitate with his answer.

His Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team had just been through an incredible battle with arch rival Bedford in the Division I state championship game last Sunday at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym.

There was Kreick, leaning against the back wall, with the door ajar to let in some fresh air after his Cardinals had pulled out an amazing 48-46 comeback win.

It was his team’s fifth outright and sixth title since he took over in May of 2015, the Cards sharing a title with Goffstown after the COVID cancellation of the semis and finals in 2020.

But in none of those other championship games did the Cardinals face the game-long grind that saw them trailing by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter and five with two minutes left.

So when asked if this was the toughest of them all, the answer was swift.

“No question this was the hardest one,” he said. “We had a First Team All-State kid last year (six-footer Meghan Stack), still rehabbing a knee, and fortunately we’ll have Meghan back next year. A Second Team All-State player transferred out.

“We were mixing a freshman (last year) big in, Hannah Lynch, who went from her freshman to her sophomore year and didn’t play big minutes last year. So it was a challenge just to find our groove. I almost think it took us three quarters of a season to figure out who we were.”

Eleven months ago, it didn’t look as if the celebration the Cardinals were enjoying just few yards away from Kreick was going to be able to happen.

As he alluded, March of 2021 was simply not a good month for the Cardinals, at least the second half of it. They had been basically embarrassed in the Division I title game by the Bedford Bulldogs in an 18-point defeat. They trailed from start to finish and were really never in it.

Then, a couple of weeks later, Telegraph Player of the Year, then-sophomore center Stack tore her ACL in the start of off-season, AAU competition/practice. She’d likely be lost for a year.

Things continued into the off-season with a couple of depth pieces transferring out, Kailee McDonald to prep school and Mazie Barker to Nashua South, both All-State quality players.

Yikes.

Kreick always schedules hard, competitive out-of state games to make sure his team is tourney tough when the bell rings. But with those hard games can come some tough defeats, and the Cards experienced one back on Jan. 24, losing on a made-missed layup combo at Dracut, Mass., 65-64.

But that was the last time Guertin, 19-3, would taste defeat. In fact, all their next six wins would be by double digits, including their 66-51 win over Pinkerton in the semis that avenged their only in-state loss of the year.

“After that rough Dracut loss, the kids really just found themselves, and kind of found their rhythm together,” Kreick said. “They were really, really good down the stretch.”

What was Kreick thinking with the Cards down seven last Sunday and crunch time approaching?

“I remember turning to Mike (assistant Paquette) after we turned it over on a third straight possession and said, ‘Geez, man, if this doesn’t go our way, we’re going to look back at these turnovers and be kicking ourselves.”

But there was no need for that because Brooke Paquette wouldn’t let it happen. Kreick all off-season was lauding the progression made by the Cardinals junior point guard, forecasting great things for the player who also helped lead BG to its girls Division I soccer title as Telegraph Player of the Year.

Paquette didn’t disappoint all season, from when she hit 9 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter of the Cards’ season-opening win over the Bulldogs, to her 32 points in the semis win over Pinkerton, to her 21 points in the title game win, including seven down the stretch, the final 1:43.

They hadn’t been able to get into any offensive rhythm in a championship bout that featured bodies hitting the floor, layups, free throws and 3 pointers clanging off the rims.

They were still down five, 44-39, with 2:20 to go. Then Paquette went to work.

“I think we had to keep in our minds that anything could happen,” said Paquette, who had four assists, four rebounds and seven steals, nearly all of the latter incredibly huge. “Especially since in the semifinals we were down in the first half against Pinkerton and we won that. Anything was possible, and we did (this comeback) too.

“You could feel the energy off the bench, everything was just perfect, we all came together and we all made it work.”

She was right. Suddenly, everything fell into place, especially after Cardinal nemesis 6-2 Lana McCarthy, who torched BG inside for 14 points and 14 rebounds, had fouled out with just under two minutes to go.

The biggest play of the game was when Paquette stole the ball and fired up a 3-pointer that gave Guertin the lead for good, 45-44, with 54.4 seconds left.

Simply stunning. The Bulldogs, who led 15-9 after one, 21-18 at the half, 28-27 after three, seemingly had everything going their way, but they did end up turning the ball over a horrendous 30 times to BG’s 16, and it caught up to them.

“We out-performed them in every category but turnovers and free throws (BG was 15 of 22, Bedford only 6 of 15),” Bedford coach Kevin Gibbs said. “No one play turned the corner. The kids executed well. … You’re talking about two heavyweights that stood in the ring and threw punches at each other.

“We’re up four. A lot of it was untimely turnovers that were accentuated when they occurred in the game. The kids didn’t fall apart. … To the victor goes the spoils.”

Because the victors found some offense.

“We had to keep attacking. Use that to our advantage, and win the game,” Paquette said, noting she just had to keep shooting even when they weren’t falling early.

On their next two possessions, the Bulldogs turned it over (one on a jump ball call with the arrow pointing BG’s way), while Paquette made three of four free throws to make it a 48-44 game with 18.2 seconds to play.

“She comes up big in the biggest games, against the best teams, in the fourth quarters of tight games,” Kreick said. “She hit huge 3 at the end. It’s just an unbelievable security blanket. … Brooke kind of took it on her shoulders and got it done for us at the end.”

And set the mental tone, because Paquette certainly didn’t win this by herself, even after fellow offensive catalyst Olivia Murray had fouled out late on two incredibly questionable calls.

“These kids, it’s not always the prettiest thing,” Kreick said. “But this is as tough a group of kids as I’ve had in seven years. They’re just mentally tough a group as I’ve had. And I think you saw that in spades in the last five minutes of that game. It would have been really easy , whatever we were, down six or seven with all the momentum going against us, to basically say this isn’t our year.

“Just dug it out. All the credit to them.”

There could be other teams in the mix, but these two will be eyeing each other again next year. Stack will be back to challenge McCarthy down low. So will Paquette. In fact, the Cards lose just one senior, Madelyn Bowen, who hit two big free throws to pull the Cards to within 44-43 with 1:03 to play. She fittingly was given the honor and proudly displayed the title plaque to the BG fandom in the stands.

“Lot of people back,” Kreick said. “We’ve got Stack back. Take a little time off, turn the page, and start thinking about next year.”

As Gibbs said, “Honestly, you’ve got two champions. We play them five times, one team would win three, the other one would win two. There’s no 5-0.”

“This had nothing to do with coaching,” Kreick said of the victory.

“That was just a bunch of tough kids who wanted to win a state championship and figured out a way to get it done.”