By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Girls’ Basketball team had some mixed results with a win and a loss to start the winter sports season, but first year freshman starter, Samantha Sullivan and sopomore Mia Giampa, were the leading scorers for the Lady Lancers in those two games with a combined scoring effort of 58-points.
Second year head coach, Jon Doherty, saw Sullivan score nearly half the team’s total, with 27-points in the season’s home opener on Tuesday, Dec. 13, against Exeter High School, but after a dismal first quarter, where they were only able to put up 6-points, his team fell 61-56 to the visitors.
The Londonderry girls put themselves in quite a hole to start the game. The Lanacer were only able to get one bucket until the final moments of the first period and found themselves trailing by 12 to begin the second.
The team stepped up the scoring in the second with 21-points and shaving the Exeter lead to just eight, at 35-27 at half time.
By the end of the third quarter, Londonderry shaved another two points from the Blue Hawk lead and headed into the final quarter at 47-41.
The Lancers got within three-points twice in the final two minutes of the game, but a timely steal by Exeter resulted in a momentum swing that put the game out of reach with seconds remaining.
Sullivan’s 27-point game included three, three-pointers and eight buckets from the foul line.
Seniors, Jordan Furlong and Shannon Ball, both had nine-points, freshman Brooke Eacrett had six points with a three-pointer and three foul shots and sophomore Reagan Anderson scored four.
In the teams’ second game of the season, on the road against Nashua South Friday night, the Lancers were able to notch their first victory of the young season.
Londonderry beat the Purple Panthers 63-30 with Sullivan and Giampa leading the team with 15-points each. Giampa had three, three-pointers in that total.
Ball had nine-points in the game with four buckets and a foul shot. Anderson finished with three baskets and two foul shots and sophomore Kathryn Sloper got seven points in the game.
The team will have one game this week in Portsmouth on Thursday, Dec. 20.