MANCHESTER — Hanover High girls basketball coach Dan O’Rourke wanted a track meet. Bring on the electric pace of an up-and-down contest with everything on the line in Friday night’s NHIAA Division II girls basketball championship game with No. 3 Kennett. Keep everything moving and make it fast.
Why not? O’Rourke’s Marauders had plenty of capable reinforcements ready to go.
Hanover outran, then out-lasted, the Eagles in a 52-41 win at Southern New Hampshire University’s Stan Spirou Field House, winning its first state championship since 2008, its sixth in program history and the fourth in O’Rourke’s 18-year tenure. Junior Maddie McCorkle led the Marauders with a game-high 15 points, five coming in the fourth quarter with Hanover holding Kennett’s sharpshooters at arm’s length.
But it was Hanover’s seniors who got most of the post-game attention — Julia Golder and the twins, Lois and Diana Schwarz — for earning their first career state title with the victory. All three were part of Hanover’s last trip to the final, a loss to Goffstown in 2016. Lois and Diana Schwarz were part of two losing championship efforts in field hockey the last two seasons as well.
For O’Rourke, the result was a fitting end for the four-year varsity starters.
“They’re three of the most committed, nicest kids,” O’Rourke said. “We really talk about your success is my success. … For Diana, Lois and Julia to go out champions, it’s well-deserved. Julia is going to go row for UCLA, Division I. Lois and Diana are going to play field hockey at Wesleyan (University in Middletown, Conn.). They’re going out champions, which they should.”
Added Golder: “(This) feels amazing. From day one, Dan (O’Rourke) has said this is a championship team. I knew he always believed. … It’s been such a fun ride and such a memorable team.”
Eight different Marauders found the scoresheet, and 10 saw playing time. Hanover’s bench outscored Kennett’s reserves, 20-0, in the effort.
“That’s usually the first thing to go are your legs,” O’Rourke said. “I was willing to give up transition, back-and-forth, a fast pace to this game, and I said, ‘We’re going to win it in the second half.’ Our depth has been one of the keys to our success this year, and it was today, too.”
Hanover won the game on the offensive glass, making almost all of its points from underneath the basket. It also led from early in the first quarter, building a 17-11 advantage after eight minutes of play off of back-to-back baskets from McCorkle and Charlotte Johnson. Hanover then stretched the lead to 29-20 by halftime.
The first-half story was in the numbers: a 23-12 Hanover advantage in rebounds, a 14-2 edge in second-chance points, a 22-12 disparity in points in the paint.
“There is so much chemistry on this team, it really does not matter who is on the floor,” said Hanover sophomore Anna Kirkpatrick, who added four points and six rebounds, on her role on the second unit off the bench. “We all work so well together and are able to produce. I’m just so happy to be a part of it in any way I can.”
The Marauders led by as many as 13 points, 39-26, with 1 minute, 18 seconds left in the third quarter and stretched the lead to 41-28 headed into the final stanza. Hanover made eight of 12 free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
“Losing freshman year definitely hurt a lot; that’s always stuck with me, Lois and Diana Schwarz,” Golder said. “Having this to finally close the season off, close the career for me and both the twins, is just an amazing feeling.”
It was the second meeting of the season between the two teams — but only the third in the last decade — with the Marauders holding on for a 62-54 overtime win over the Eagles on Feb. 16.
Kennett finished its season 20-2 overall. Maddie Stewart led Kennett with 14 points. Diana Schwarz and Willa Parkins each scored six for Hanover.
O’Rourke’s squad loses Golder and the Schwarz sisters in the offseason, a trio the veteran coach said he’s been coaching since they were in third grade. He also brings back a lot of talent, including a bench full of capable athletes in Johari Ajwang, Johnson, Whitmore, Kirkpatrick and Parkins who now have a taste of championship experience.
“This group of seniors has been to three Final Fours; Diana and Lois have each had torn ACLs,” O’Rourke said. “For them to come back and go out this way, it doesn’t get better than this.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.