A blowout victory at home followed by a one-point loss in a rematch of last winter’s Division I championship game left the Londonderry High girls’ basketball squad contemplating the 2-1 record it had established in its first three contests of the 2014-15 season.
New head coach Nick Theos’ Lady Lancers rolled their season record up to a perfect 2-0 Tuesday, Dec. 16, with a 65-27 slamming of the visiting Spaulding High Lady Red Raiders from Rochester in Londonderry’s home-opener.
The hosts drove their way out to a 20-4 lead by the close of the first quarter, led 39-16 at halftime, and sat up by some 32 points at 57-25 at the end of three quarters.
Ashley Berube paced the victors with 16 points, Jackie Luckhardt collected 10, and Katie Balcom and Tara Burke were each good for eight points. All in all, the locals had eight players net points and they sank six, three-point shots.
But the last-second heroics of Bedford’s Jenoyce Langan gave the host Lady Bulldogs a 53-52 edging of Londonderry last Friday night, Dec. 19, in the rematch of the 2013-14 D-I title game won by the Lady Lancers this past March.
Theos’ LHS troop led by 10 points with about six minutes remaining in the final quarter, but Bedford came busting back to bag the win.
Londonderry led by an 11-6 tally after one period, and their advantage sat at 27-23 when the squads broke for halftime.
The Lady Lancers saw their lead get even slimmer (41-39) by the close of the third period, but they built it up to double digits before Bedford bagged the win with its final charge.
Bedford’s Langan scored with a mere four seconds left on the clock to give her team its home victory.
Sophomore guard Kelsey Coffey had a monster game for the locals with 27 points – including four, three-point buckets – and Ashley Berube was good for 13 points in the defeat. Londonderry’s only other scorers were Tara Burke (11) and Luckhardt (one point).
The Lady Lancers then placed themselves back on the winning path Monday, Dec. 22, with a 62-41 home thumping of the Trinity High Lady Pioneers from Manchester.
Berube led the way with 16 points, Coffey contributed 15, and Burke was good for 14.