The Pinkerton Academy girls’ basketball team did precisely what strong squads are supposed to do last week in closing out its 2015-16 regular season with resounding victories over a pair of weaker opponents.
The academy ladies finished their regular campaign with an impressive 14-4 Division I record by throttling both the winless Concord High Crimson Tide and the well-below-.500 Exeter High Lady Blue Hawks. The Lady Astros then entered this week facing a first-round tournament contest at home Wednesday, March 2, after Nutfield News press time.
Buskey’s bunch began the season by winning its first 10 games, but the academy crew went a far more modest 4-4 in its last eight contests. The Lady Astros were 4-2 in their last six games, with the back to back bestings of Concord and Exeter in the final two.
“We’ve started to figure out some of the reasons we lost some of those games, and in some of those games we beat ourselves against worthy opponents,” said coach Lani Buskey. “I think now we’re ready to step up and play well in the tournament.”
The Pinkerton cagers bounced their Division I record up to 13-4 with a 51-16 pummeling of the weak Concord Crimson Tide in the state capital Tuesday night, Feb. 23. Concord remained winless at 0-17.
The PA bunch sprinted out to a 14-2 lead in the first quarter and led by 21 points (27-6) at halftime. And by the time three quarters had been completed, the visiting side led 40-8.
The victorious locals received points from 12 different sources, with Amanda Lemire leading the way with 11 and Brooke Kane and Courtney Velho each collecting seven.
The Lady Astros had 10 players score and everybody in uniform enjoy court time in their 49-20 pummeling of Exeter in Derry on Senior Night last Friday night, Feb. 26.
The Lady Blue Hawks entered that contest with a 4-13 record and losses in six of their previous seven games. And they’d finish the 2015-16 campaign with a record of 4-14, exactly the opposite of the mark compiled by the opposing Lady Astros.
Pinkerton won every quarter convincingly, leading 14-5 after one quarter, 25-9 at halftime, and 39-14 rolling into the final period.
Lemire and Marissa Stacy each collected 10 points to pace the hosts, with Sara McLeman and Cydney Lessard each having six.
When the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association released its D-I tournament pairings for the first round of the tourney Monday morning, the Lady Astros learned that they were the fifth seed and would be playing host to the 12th-ranked Salem High Lady Blue Devils at PA on Wednesday, March 2, after Nutfield News press time.
