Crusaders look for quick rebound following Senior Night slip

     

    Payton Moran
    Payton Moran slashes past a Concord defender en route to 2 of her 10 points against Concord Tuesday night.

    MANCHESTER, NH – On a night that saw four highly-influential seniors honored before the game, the Manchester Memorial High School varsity girls basketball team was unable to celebrate a win following the contest.

    The Crusaders, working Tuesday evening to improve their playoff position and lockup a first-round home playoff matchup, fell to 9-7 on the season following a 51-43 home setback to a Concord team that entered the game with an 8-7 record.

    That, after leading at halftime, 24-19.

    “I felt like every time we had a chance to extend our lead from 5 to 7 or 5 to 8, we’d come down and miss a wide-open layup, or we’d come down and turn it over, so we had opportunities in the game to extend our lead that we just didn’t take advantage of,” said Memorial head coach Greg Cotreau.

    Still, Memorial maintained a 31-30 advantage heading into the fourth quarter before Concord came out on an 8-0 run to put the hosts on their heels.

    Cotreau, called a time out with a little less than 6 minutes remaining that seemed to calm his players and refocus their efforts. The Crusaders were able to chip back and draw within one point, 42-41, with roughly 2 minutes left on the clock, but the high number of fouls committed in the second half caught up to them as Concord, already in the bonus, was able to force its way to the line for most of the fourth quarter and knock down 10 of 14 free throws to hold off the Crusaders late-game charge.

    “I think it came down to the fact that we put ourselves in horrific foul trouble in that third quarter,” said Cotreau. “You know, we’re a team that wants to be in your face the whole game, and I thought the first half we did a really good job of doing that without fouling. The second half, I don’t know what it was, we just couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves.”

    Torle Adumene drove hard into the pain but this layup attempt was blocked by Concord’s Aidah Smalley (No. 23) and Whitney Vaillant (No. 3).

    Despite the tough setback, Cotreau, after the game, was quick to sing the praises of his four seniors – Kayleigh Brunette, Fatma Fatah, Emma Rossi and Skylar Rollins.

    Brunette, he said, shows constant effort on the court.

    “She’s a scrappy, feisty kid. It’s going to be tough to replace her speed and quickness and athleticism,” he said. “She’s only 5’2″ but she’s a little fire plug.”

    Fatah suffered a significant knee injury competing in her first varsity season last year as a junior after two years playing JV ball. The knock led to a lengthy rehab, but she’s proven that she can still compete at a high level this season, said Cotreau.

    “She’s just trying to figure out how to play a new way, but she’s a kid who has impressed enough to get herself a college opportunity (at Regis College) next year, so she’ll continue,” he said.

    Rollins, the team manager, played one year for the Crusaders but shifted her efforts to a support role after suffering a serious knee injury of her own.

    “She really wanted to still be around the team and be around the girls, so she’s been huge behind the scenes for us filming games and doing administrative duties assigned by the coaching staff,” said Cotreau.

    And Rossi, he added, has been the heart and soul of the team for the last four years.

    “She’s had some huge moments for us, including knocking Central out of a playoff game a couple years ago in a game that was in overtime,” said Cotreau. “She’s been through all the wars for us. She knows what it takes for a team to make a deep run.”

    And that’s still the plan for this year’s squad as well, he said: “We still feel in our locker room we can (make a deep playoff run), but we have to fix a whole bunch of stuff that didn’t go our way tonight.”

    NyAsia McKelvey blocking an opponent.
    NyAsia McKelvey blocked Whitney Vaillant’s layup effort. Stace

    Dropping a late-season contest to a team in which you’re competing for playoff positioning is never ideal, but the Crusaders currently hold tie-breakers among sever other teams which they’ve beaten – including Dover and Spaulding– and still have two games remaining against foes with similar records.

    If Memorial, now sitting 9th in the Division-I standings, is to climb back into a top-eight position, it will have to so on the road as it competes at 9-4 Exeter on Friday night at 6:30 and then closes the regular season on Friday the 24th at 7 p.m. at 8-6 Londonderry.

    “Both games are similar to this one. We’re all in the same mix, all fighting for the same thing,” said Cotreau. “We’re all trying to avoid (playing) a top-3 or -4 seed in the playoffs. That’s going to be a first-round playoff exit for most anybody.

    “If we had won all three of these games, there was a road for us to get to sixth … but now this loss probably brings us down, but our goal is still to host a playoff game, so if we can go out and get these next two, our chances are still pretty good.”

    Senior Emma Rossi drives hard for a layup during Memorial’s Tuesday night setback to Concord.

    See a photo you like? Find these pictures and more for viewing or purchase.