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Dominant second half gives Pinkerton tourney win

Wednesday, March, 02 By David Willis
Staff writer

DERRY — With Pinkerton trailing by three points heading into the second half, and struggling to find any offense, senior co-captain Marissa Stacy pulled hotshot sophomore Amanda Lemire aside.

“Amanda is a heck of a player, but she is young and was getting frustrated,” said Astros coach Lani Buskey. “Salem was all over her, and their tactic was to take her out of the game. I think that got to her.

“Then I saw Marissa go over and say to Amanda, ‘Hey, you’re OK kid. We’ve got this.’ And I think that was a momentum boost.”

Both Lamire and Stacy were red hot after the break, combining for 23 points, and the Pinkerton defense did the rest by allowing just five points in the second half on the way to a 45-23 victory for the No. 5 Astros over No. 12 Salem in the Division 1 first round.

“We had a rocky first half, but we came back in the second half and pulled out a good victory,” said Stacy, who had a game-high 17 points. “Once we started hitting shots and grabbing rebounds, we knew we had found our game.”

Pinkerton (17-4, 15-4 Division 1)  will now travel to face No. 4 Winnacunnet (15-3 Division 1) in the Division 1 quarterfinals on Saturday at 7 p.m. at in Hampton, N.H.
The Astros rolled past the Warriors 48-31 in their lone regular season meeting.
“The next round is going to be a tough one,” said Lemire, who scored 14 points. “They are a great team. But if we play a good first half and keep it going I think we can beat anyone and make it to Southern New Hampshire (University, for the state semifinals).”
It was Salem that was red hot out of the gates on Wednesday. The Blue Devils grabbed a 14-7 lead after one quarter, and at the break were ahead 18-15.
“We had to get out of our own heads,” said Lemire. “We had to start making plays and working well. We had to get composed and run our offense. Once we started doing that, we were just fine.”
Pinkerton’s Sarah McLeman opened the second half with a jumper, and Stacy gave the Astros the lead with a 3-pointer. Lamire followed that with a long jumper from the elbow, and the Red and White were on a roll.
“I think those first few shots really got the energy rolling,” said Lemire. “We knew we could win, we just had to start believing in ourselves. Going into the second half, you could just feel a different energy.”
After a shaky start, the Pinkerton defense was dominant after halftime. The Astros held Salem without a basket in the third quarter, and to just five points in the entire second half to close out the win.
“We may not be a big team, but we are physical and we can match up with anyone,” said Lemire. “Once we started rebounding we were good.”
Pinkerton not moves on to visit Winnacunnet, which has gone 13-2 since losing to the Astros on Jan. 5.
“They are a fantastic team,” said Buskey. “They have the best big in the state, if not the best player in (Meg) Knollmeyer. We have a task ahead of us. But we are confident because we have beaten them. We aren’t cocky, but hopefully we can remember what we did then, and hit some shots.”