Sophomore guard Kelsey Coffey came up with some clutch offensive work, and she and her teammates kept their noses to the grindstone on defense all night in handing their Londonderry High girls’ basketball squad a 44-39 defeat of the rival Pinkerton Academy Lady Astros in Derry on Friday night, Feb. 6.
After the two teams adjourned for halftime with Londonderry grasping a 14-13 lead, Coffey cranked up her personal offense and netted all of her game-high 17 points in the second half – nailing a handful of three-point buckets in the process – to help push her now 12-1 squad to its 10th consecutive Division I victory. Pinkerton slipped to 7-4 in its tough class with the defeat.
“A tough-fought game, but rivalry games always are,” said LHS first-year varsity coach Nick Theos.”Defensively, the girls worked hard and followed the game plan, but offensively we struggled for the first half until the outside shots started to fall.”
The LHS girls’ win was also significant because it began Londonderry High’s two-game sweep of Ball Family Trophy games at Pinkerton that evening, with the Lancer boys following up with a tight victory in the night-cap before a near-capacity crowd in PA’s Hackler Gymnasium.
The girls’ contest was tight from start to finish, with both teams struggling mightily with their shooting throughout the first half and the 27 combined points being in the first two quarters.
Pinkerton missed its first 10 shots from the floor in the opening quarter, while Londonderry sank just one of its first six tries from the field.
The Lady Lancers ended up going 4-for-14 from the field in the first period, while PA stood at 1-for-14 in that same span, and the score sat at 8-5 in Londonderry’s favor after a frustrating period.
The PA bunch ended up outscoring its guests by a modest 8-6 tally in quarter two, leaving the halftime score at 14-13 in Londonderry’s favor at the break.
But Coffey and senior swing player Brittany Roche both had their shooting hands warm up for the Lady Lancers in quarter three, which ended with the visitors grasping a 29-26 lead.
Coffey came up big again with long-range and free-throw shooting in the fourth period, with she and her teammates building their way up to their largest lead of eight points (39-31) midway through that vital stanza before winning the contest by five points at 44-39.
“Kelsey Coffey takes and makes big shots at big times, and Brittany Roche did everything for us, including score at opportune times. Another hard, tough win,” said Theos.
Along with Coffey’s 17 points, the victorious LHS side received nine from Roche and six apiece from that duo’s fellow starters Ashley Berube and Tara Burke.