After losing a lopsided decision to the Manchester Memorial Lady Crusaders in the Queen City in its 2017-18 season opener two weeks ago, the youthful Londonderry High School girls’ basketball squad found itself playing its home-opener against a Nashua opponent early last week.
And although veteran coach Nick Theos’ Lady Lancers showed skill and clutch capabilities in their Tuesday night, Dec. 12 battle with the Nashua North Lady Titans in the LHS gymnasium, the locals absorbed their second defeat of the extremely young season in a tough, 37-36 overtime decision against that opponent.
The contest was nip and tuck throughout, with the hosts grasping a 9-8 lead after one quarter and the score deadlocked at 14-14 when halftime arrived.
The Lady Titans held the slimmest of leads at 25-24 rolling into the final eight minutes of play, but Londonderry managed to have the score knotted up at 35-35 when the buzzer sounded ending regulation time.
However, the Nashua, who opened their season with a 72-64 loss to the Exeter High Lady Blue Hawks on the seacoast, outscored the Lady Lancers by a tiny 4-3 margin in overtime to bag their first success of the young season.
“Courtney Shay led all scorers with 15 points, including a key three-pointer to cut the lead to three coming down the stretch,” said LHS coach Theos. “Then Delaney McGurn, who finished with seven points, hit a three-pointer with three seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.”
The Lady Lancers also had freshmen Charlotte Sullivan and Ashley Rourke play well in the loss, scoring six and five points respectively.
Coach Theos’ crew then stepped into this week with a busy slate in the days before Christmas, looking at Division I contests at Spaulding in Rochester on Tuesday the 19th and then back home against tough Bedford two nights later, with both of those games occurring after Londonderry Times press time.
The locals were then looking at a Dec. 23 ride into Massachusetts to play their first game in the Lawrence Central Catholic Holiday Tournament against Bishop Guertin of Nashua. The Lady Lancers are then scheduled to play Dec. 28 and 30 games against as yet-undetermined opponents in that Bay State holiday tourney.