Trinity, West fall in opening round of Doug Chandler Invitational

MANCHESTER, NH — A dominant four-minute stretch of the second quarter catapulted Bow High to a 54-32 win over Trinity, Tuesday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Doug Chandler Invitational Tournament at Central High.

Earlier in the day, Manchester West was no match for Division 1 Merrimack, falling 65-13.

As a result, West and Trinity drop into the consolation bracket of the tournament. Trinity will face Derryfield today (Wednesday) at 1:30 p.m. West will face Central at 3 p.m.

Merrimack will face Conant in one semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Bow will challenge Memorial in the second semi at 6 p.m. The winners will meet Thursday for the tournament title.

Bow 54, Trinity 32

Trailing 19-13, Bow closed the first half on a 13-0 run to take a 26-19 lead into intermission. Trinity got as close as four points early in the third quarter before Bow pulled away, blowing the game open in the fourth.

Juliette Tarsa led all scorers with 15 points for Bow (4-0). Alex Carrabee added nine.

Addison Monihan had 14 points to pace Trinity. But all of her points came in the first half, as Bow tightened up its defense on her after halftime. Adut Tour added 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.

Trinity (0-4) got off to a strong start, playing some of its best basketball of the young season. Monihan reeled off six straight points, including a putback off a miss by Carolyn Burleigh, to stake the Pioneers to an early 8-2 lead. Later, Tour scored off an offensive rebound to give the Pioneers a 10-7 lead after one quarter.

That lead might have been more but for 11 turnovers committed by Trinity. For the game, the Pioneers turned the ball over 30 times, including 18 in the first half.

“We want to be a little more consistent. We’re still a young team and right now, the consistency’s not there,” said Trinity Coach Kevin Fraser. “We have to learn to relax a little bit. They used a pressure defense and we still have some young kids out there, freshmen and sophomores, still learning how to handle the ball.”

Those turnovers helped turn the game around for Bow in the second quarter.

A 3-pointer by Bella LaPerle started the Falcons on their comeback, cutting the Trinity lead to 19-16. Tarsa then scored off a steal by Lindsay LaPerle before sticking a 12-foot jumper on the next possession to give Bow the lead, 20-19. But it was when Tarsa stole the ensuing inbounds pass and scored on a reverse layup to make it 22-19, that it was clear the momentum had swung in the Falcons’ favor.

Trinity tried to regroup at intermission and find the swagger they had scoring played with at the start of the game. Tour opened the third quarter by on a strong power move in the paint to cut the Bow lead to 26-21. But that as as close as the Pioneers would get. Turnovers and poor rebounding stopped any momentum Trinity hoped to build.

In one sequence, Lindsay LaPerle drilled a 3-pointer on Bow’s third shot of the possession. For the game, Trinity was outrebounded 36-25 and 33-11 over the final three quarters.

“The rebounding was a problem,” said Fraser. “You can’t allow a team to get four and five shots (per possession) and us just get one. The odds aren’t in your favor.”

Merrimack 65, West 13

Division II West (0-3) came into the tournament having lost two low-scoring, hard-fought contests. Against Division I Merrimack, the Blue Knights found themselves overmatched by the skill and speed of the Tomahawks (2-1).

The score was 18-2 after one quarter and 40-6 at halftime.

Junior guard Lexi Best poured in 19 of her game-high 22 points in the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers. Gianna Maglio added 13 points and Lean Monroe came off the bench to chip in with 10.

Chloe Murphy had six points and 11 rebounds to lead West. Ajaelah Poulin added four points. Kristen Winshaw played well defensively for the Blue Knights, with three blocked shots and a steal.

“This is still a new team, we don’t have too many returning players. We’re still trying to get used to each other,” said West Coach Ashley Berube. “As a team, we’re just trying to get better each game. We need to learn the plays (better), learn the right spacing on defense. Any improvement is a good thing for us.”