Bulldogs get 1st playoff win

Friday, March 1, 2013

Joe Marchilena photo

Bedford's Haley Driscoll battles for a rebound with two Manchester Central players during Wednesday's playoff game.

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Joe Marchilena photo

Bedford's McKenzie Brown puts up a shot during Wednesday's playoff game against Manchester Central. The Bulldogs won 56-33 for the program's first postseason win.

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Joe Marchilena photo

Bedford's Haley Driscoll battles for a rebound with two Manchester Central players during Wednesday's playoff game.

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The Bedford High School girls basketball team beat Manchester Central on Wednesday night in a game that was somewhat forgettable.

Well, except that it was the first playoff victory in the program’s history.

McKenzie Brown scored 19 points and had five assists and Rachel Collins had 16 to lead No. 2 Bedford to a 56-33 victory over No. 15 Central in the preliminary round of the Division I tournament.

“We’ve made the playoffs before but haven’t won a game, so that was goal No. 1,” Bedford coach Sue Thomas. “Let’s just get a win under our belt. I thought we played great. We had a great first half. Third quarter we played great defense, but the offense was a little flat. I think that was more because when you see the scoreboard and you know how its going ... but they bounced back.”

Haley Driscoll also had 10 points and seven rebounds, as the Bulldogs (17-2) got out a 22-9 lead in the first quarter and managed to hold off the Little Green (5-14) the rest of the way.

Central got 14 points from Katherine Johnson, but no one else had more than four. The Little Green fell behind 12-2 early and Thomas could see that the Bulldogs were playing well together.

“You could feel there was a flow going,” she said. “Those starters, once they started getting in that flow, you can tell that they’re almost unstoppable.

“They click and play so well together, when they’re feeling it, they feed off each other.”

The Bulldogs made eight layups in the first quarter, and for the game had just one 3-pointer, a halfcourt buzzer beater by Brown just before halftime.

After scoring just eight points in the third quarter, Collins started the fourth with a 6-0 run on her own that put Bedford up 46-24 with 6:29 left in the game.

Bedford will host a quarterfinal game on Saturday at 7 p.m. against No. 7 Alvirne, which beat No. 10 Exeter 66-41 on Wednesday. The Bulldogs beat the Broncos, 63-46 on Jan. 2, but Alvirne (14-5) has won nine of its last 11 games.

“They’ve done great things and they have great shooters,” Thomas said. “They have seniors who lead the team. Every game to every team is so important and the top eight in our division are very strong and could beat anybody. We have to be ready to go. We have to play good, solid defense.”