MANCHESTER, NH – Two years ago, the Holy Family Academy varsity girls basketball team entered the postseason with little playoff experience and pulled off a first-round upset victory on the road before exiting in the quarterfinals to the eventual state champ.
Last season, with five seniors, including three starters, the Griffins once again put together an impressive run, but fell short of their championship goal.
Now, Holy Family looks to take the collective experience of the last two years and channel it into additional success this campaign.
And if Tuesday’s playoff opener its any indication, the third time may very well be the charm.
Holy Family, which entered the Division-IV tournament as the No. 3 seed on the heels of 16-2 regular season, opened playoff play with a 52-19 triumph over No. 14 Pittsfield.
“We fought hard during the season to get this seed, which made it a little more comfortable tonight,” said longtime Holy Family head coach Joseph Williams. “I’ll tell you, Pittsfield, they’re a young team and they’re very athletic and very scrappy. I can see them in a couple years being a challenge, so it was a good win, and now we’re looking forward to making a few tweaks and improvements (before the next game).”
Next up for the Griffins is a quarterfinal clash against either No. 6 Farmington (15-3) – which beat Holy Family in an early-season clash, 52-35, on Dec. 22 – or upstart Moultonborough (10-8), the No. 11 seed.
“Having a home game is really important for us,” said Williams. “It just changes the vibe for everything, especially if it’s Farmington, not having to travel to Farmington. They have a great crowd, a great fanbase, and they’re a solid team, so we don’t need to be giving any additional advantage to anybody.”
That game is tentatively schedule for 6 p.m. Friday at Holy Family and Williams said his squad will be ready, regardless of who is on the opposite bench.
“We have a much more compact team (compared to least season), but we have the talent, we have the experience, and as long as we put the work in and play disciplined, play aggressive, we should do fine. We can give any team a run for its money.”
The team is led by seniors Mariana Vicinanzo and Annie McGee, who captain the team this season, along with point guard Ryenn Pedone and Grace Thibault.
“As Bill Belichick used to say about football, ‘it’s a player’s game,’ well, so is basketball,” said Williams, “and we have great players who love the game and love each other, so it makes it fun.”
In addition to a game-high 22 points from Pedone, including 16 in the first half, Liz Kenza Yonkeu also provided 15 markers in Tuesday night’s victory.
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