Holy Family girls slip, but still look to slide into postseason

MANCHESTER, NH – The Holy Family Academy girls basketball team has been having its best season at the varsity level.

Having graduated a strong class of senior athletes prior to the team beginning NHIAA play during the 2020-’21 season, Holy Family head coach Joseph Williams said his team has been setting a strong foundation in the three-plus years since and are now seeing the benefits of that rebuild.

“I think we won two games through our first three (NHIAA Division I-V) seasons, so the team is gelling. You know, you learn how to lose together as a team, and you learn to come back as a team,” said Williams. “My favorite part about coaching is that these young ladies are wonderful young ladies, and it’s about what you learn that you can take with you into life, because this is just a game.”

So despite allowing a late lead to slip away and suffering a 44-40 home setback to Mascenic Regional High School Wednesday night, the Griffins are maintaining a positive outlook as they head into the stretch run of their current campaign.

“Honestly, Mascenic is a very good team. They have the talent and it was a competitive game when we played them at their home. They were also missing one of their strong inside players who can also hit threes,” said Williams. “And that’s really what happened. We gave up those outside shots. We kind of backed up a little on defense and when they started hitting them, the tempo changed.”

Indeed, Holy Family was leading by eight in the fourth quarter but Mascenic was able to harness and maintain the momentum down the stretch.

“We have two seniors, so a lot of our starters are young and they’re just learning how to deal with these situations,” said Williams. “We’ve had a couple great games where they’ve come back and we’ve pulled it off, and this is one we couldn’t bring our way.”

Indeed, after winning eight of nine games from Dec. 12 through Jan. 17, the Griffins have seesawed a bit over their last four games.

The dropped a hard-fought 46-37 mid-table clash at 8-6 Portsmouth Christian on Jan. 18 – and then experienced a 49-35 hiccup at 6-8 Mount Royal on Jan. 25 – but rebounded with a decisive 42-28 home victory over 9-3 Wilton-Lyndeborough five days later.

Now, Williams said he hopes to see a similar bounce-back from his charges when they travel to 11-3 Newmarket next Friday for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.

Holy Family currently maintains a 9-6 record and sits in playoff position as the team heads into its final three games of the regular season.

Following the Newmarket contest, the Griffins host Senior Night on Monday, Feb. 12 against Portsmouth Christian and then closeout the regular season at 9-4 Franklin the next day at 4:30 p.m.

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