BEDFORD, N.H. — Maddie Stewart’s last girls basketball encounter against Hanover resulted in a championship game defeat. Her most recent netted a championship game return.
The Kennett High senior last collided with the Marauders in the NHIAA Division II final two years ago, a 52-41 Hanover win. Stewart tore her right ACL during field hockey season the following year and missed a regular-season hoop rematch with the Marauders.
She left Hanover hanging on Thursday night. Cutting left off of a screen to shake her game-long shadow, Stewart split two Marauder defenders as a third tried to rugby-tackle her, hitting the game-winning layup with 6.3 seconds left in overtime of a 51-50 D-II semifinal win at Bedford High School.
“We hadn’t faced a team like this at all this season, but we’ve all played together for a while,” Stewart said after her 18-point performance. “We know that when we work together, that’s our best game. We just knew if we stayed calm and played as a team, we could do it.”
Stewart drew a foul on the winning hoop but missed the free throw. Hanover’s Stella Galanes, an 18-point scorer herself on the night, tried to connect with teammate Melissa Whitmore (eight points) at the other end of the floor for a final shot, but the pass got away.
It ended a most unusual night and season for Hanover (15-1).
“I’m very, very proud of the team,” Hanover coach Dan O’Rourke said. “We didn’t play our best game tonight — credit to Kennett; they played excellent defense — but we made so many big plays down the stretch. … I was very proud of them.”
The Marauders trailed, 42-38, with two minutes left in regulation but scratched back to force overtime.
Galanes sank a 3-pointer with 1:30 left and Caroline Adams converted her own steal to make it 43-42 for Hanover just 10 seconds later. Stewart returned the lead to Kennett (15-2) on a curling drive. The Eagles added a free throw, but two from Whitmore at the stripe left the foes going to an additional four minutes. A Sierra Parsons basket and two Sydney Shaw foul shots bracketing a Galanes putback left the Eagles holding a 49-47 advantage with 41.2 seconds left in OT. Whitmore gave Hanover its final advantage with a left-wing 3-pointer with 20.6 ticks to go.
The Marauders’ Charlotte Johnson, who followed Stewart all over the court all night, set up to force the guard to her weaker left side at the top of the key on the Eagles’ final possession. Stewart went with it, splitting two defenders at the left block and sinking the winning hoop.
“I’m not really thinking; we practice things like that — we’re down one, this is what we needed,” Stewart said. “I just knew that they were going to try and come at me. I had to do everything I could to just kind of not get stuffed. I just went to the left, threw it up and it worked out.”
Hanover came out of the first half holding a 23-21 lead in a contest filled with short runs.
The Marauders had the first, reeling off six straight first-quarter points out of a 7-7 tie.
Jane Lackley (eight points) hit a short corner jumper before Galanes and Johnson turned their own steals into easy hoops and forced Kennett coach Larry Meader to call a timeout.
The Eagles stayed within 13-9 at the buzzer and reeled off the first 10 points of the second period for a 19-13 lead. Stewart, even with Johnson or Hanover’s Eliza Daigle as a defensive doppelganger, still hit two baskets and set up a third as Kennett’s confidence built.
But Hanover returned the favor with a 10-2 run of its own for its two-point halftime edge.
Adams sank a short pull-up jumper, Johnson stuck a 3-pointer, Galanes scored in transition and Daigle finished a three-point play in the last reversal of momentum in the half.
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Free throws: Bishop Brady won the opening semifinal over Pelham 58-50. The championship game is back at Bedford High on Sunday at a to-be-announced time. … Kennett will be trying to win its first NHIAA girls basketball state crown since 2010 on Sunday. Brady has never won a state title in girls basketball. … The Marauders and Eagles last met in Conway back on Feb. 21, 2020, a game Hanover won, 59-23 when Stewart was out injured. Hanover’s last state title also came at Kennett’s expense in 2019 at SNHU. … Johnson is Hanover’s only graduating senior.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.