Tag: Bow

NHIAA preseason heats up

By: KJ Cardinal

Just like the unseasonably warm weather, the 2024-25 NHIAA season is beginning to heat up as well.

Yesterday marked the first practice date for Division IV squads with many holding tryouts around the state. D-III follows suit next week (Nov. 25) with D-I & D-II just seven days later as well (Dec. 2).

The D-IV season official tips off with 2024-25 opening night being held on Friday, Dec. 6, while Divisions I, II & III throw it up on Dec. 13.

Before we get to the regular-season slate, however, there are six official NHIAA sanctioned preseason jamborees on the docket. Check out the events below as this will be your first chance to see these squads in action…

DATEGENDEREVENTHOSTPARTICIPANTS
December 1GirlsPreseason Basketball JamboreeLin-WoodHoly Family, Concord Christian, Franklin, Lin-Wood
December 3BoysNewfound InvitationalNewfoundInter-Lakes, Winnisquam, Laconia, Plymouth, White Mountains, Newfound
December 7BoysBelmont Boys Basketball Preseason JamboreeBelmontMascoma, Monadnock, Newport, Belmont
December 7BoysPinkerton Basketball JamboreePinkertonCentral Catholic, Malden Catholic, Salem, Greater Lawrence Tech, Pinkerton
December 7GirlsPreseason JamboreeKennettWhite Mountains, Inter-Lakes, Berlin, Fryeburg, Kingswood, Plymouth, Gilford, Laconia, Prospect Mountain, Moultonborough, Littleton, Kennett
December 7BoysNH Sports Page Basketball JamboreeLondonderryNashua South, Kearsarge, Pelham, St. Thomas, Pinkerton, Windham, Trinity, Bow, Portsmouth, Pembroke, Londonderry

Bow’s strong start sends Falcons past West

Bow poured in 38 first-half points to propel the Falcons to a 58-44 win over visiting Manchester West on Tuesday night.

The Falcons were led by Brendan O’Keefe’s 16 points, while Jake Reardon added 15. West was paced by 10 points from Will Tanuvasa.

With the win, Bow improves to 12-4 on the season, while West falls to 11-4.

Check out the full photo gallery by Juliette Tarsa…

While we were away…

This week, we completed a complete overhaul and upgrade of our server to better serve our growing coverage. During our outage, we provided photo coverage of 17 games! These were all still viewable on our social media outlets, but we wanted to make sure they made it to the website.

Below is a list of the games we covered with links to the photo galleries. Enjoy the show!

Hanover handles Bow

By Nathaniel Ford

BOW – The Hanover Bears dominated in their 12-point win on the road, 64-52, against the Bow Falcons in Division II action and improved to 6-1 on the season. 

Hanover is one of the best teams in the entire state defensively, holding teams to 27.8 points a game on average. While the score does not reflect this, they showed their dominance on the defensive end once again. 

“Our defensive success this year has been predicated on all five guys working together on the court. We’ve got individual players that are good defensively, but when we are all thinking about helping each other, we are able to contain guys like Jake [Reardon],” said Hanover coach Ben Davis.

This success was shown early in this contest, limiting the Falcons to just 2 points in the first six minutes of play. During that time, Hanover was able to pour in 9 points of their own, giving them a comfortable lead. 

The Bears continued to shut down the Falcons on the defensive end, and offensively, they were led by sophomore Ryan McLaughlin, who was averaging 14.3 points a game coming into tonight. In the first, he scored 10 points by himself, including two three-pointers. 

“He makes us go just pushing the tempo in transition. When he’s on and he’s clicking, it makes us a totally different offensive team,” said Davis. 

Bow could not get any shots to fall and knocked down just one shot from the field. Behind this stellar performance, Hanover led 16-5 going into the second.

In the second, Hanover slowed the game down, which is a tempo they have loved to play at this season. They thrive in low scoring games, which have been many of their contests this season. McLaughlin continued to lead the Hanover offense, pumping in 7 more points this quarter.

Bow continued to struggle offensively and could not get in a consistent rhythm on that end of the court. Most of their shots were heavily contested by the Bears, and they struggled to get any easy looks. Jake Reardon, who is averaging over 22 points a game, had just three points, all free throws, at halftime.

“We were swarming him tonight and making things difficult on him, which is what our goal was,” said Davis. Hanover focused on making Reardon’s life tough in this game, and it was a huge success.

Due to their stout defense, Hanover brought a large 34-17 lead into halftime. McLaughlin was leading the way with an impressive 17 points through the first two quarters.

At the start of the third quarter, Bow started to show some life. Keenan Hubbard had a big and-one basket for the Falcons, and Jacob Littlefield and Colby Smith both knocked down shots from beyond the arc. These huge baskets got the Falcon bench on their feet and cut the Hanover lead to 11 points.

However, the Bears stayed composed, and coming out of their timeout, McLaughlin knocked down a massive three-pointer to kill the momentum Bow built. A couple more Hanover baskets caused a 7-0 run and extended the lead back up to 18 points. 

Reardon got a basket inside at the buzzer, but the Hanover lead remained massive at 47-31 entering the fourth quarter. 

The Falcons needed a comeback, and they turned up the pressure. Their full-court press gave Hanover all sorts of problems, forcing a ton of turnovers. 

“Second half was a little bit different. They turned up their pressure a little bit and were doubling the ball and giving us problems. We were fortunate to build a lead so we could weather the storm there at the end,” said Davis.

This lead proved to be too large, as Bow could only cut it as low as 9 points in the final frame. When all was said and done, Hanover walked away with a 64-52 victory. 

The Bears were led by a game high 28 points from Ryan McLaughlin, and Wyatt Daigle added 11 points of his own. 

The Falcons offensive output was very balanced, with Keenan Hubbard (11), Jake Reardon (10) and Colby Smith (10) all recording double figures. 

Hanover’s improvement from last season is nothing short of spectacular. They started off last season with an 0-12 record, they have now completely flipped the script and are 6-1 this season. 

“We’ve got a big test against Manchester West on Friday at home. It should be a good game, but they’re gonna come at us with their athleticism and defensive intensity,” said Davis.

Bow fell to 3-3 after this loss and looks to bounce back on Friday in a home matchup against 2-3 Milford.

Red-hot Spartans roll past Falcons

Pembroke came out the gates scorching hot and didn’t let off on the gas pedal as the Spartans came away with a 93-69 victory over visiting Bow on Tuesday night.

The Spartans pumped in 34 points and doubled up the Falcons in the first quarter, 34-17. Pembroke too a 52-30 lead to the break and cruised to the victory.

Joe Fitzgerald led a trio of double-figure scorers with a game-high 33 points for Pembroke, while Devin Riel (20) and Evan Berkeley (19) made big contributions as well. Bow was paced by 18 points from Jack Reardon, 14 from Colby Smith, 13 from Sean Guerrette and 11 from Peyton Larrabee.

With the win, the Spartans improve to 3-0 on the season, while Bow falls to 2-2.

Check out photos of the action by Jeff Criss of Perfect Photos…

McLellan’s clutch free throws lifts Kennett to D-II crown

By: KJ Cardinal

DURHAM – Trailing by one with no time on the clock, Kennett’s Kaylee McLellan went to the line and buried two clutch free throws to give the second-seeded Eagles a 38-37 victory over top-seeded and unbeaten Bow, capturing the 2023 NHIAA Division II Girls Basketball State Championship on Sunday at the University of New Hampshire.

As the final seconds ticked away, McLellan received the ball at the top of key from Sydnie Chin and drove to the right to throw up a desperation runner. The final buzzer sounded and the Falcons bench flooded the court to celebrate an apparent championship, but there was a whistle and a foul called.

The court was cleared and McLellan went to the line with no time on the clock and no rebounders in the lane to give head coach Larry Meaders’ Eagles a dramatic one-point win and their third-ever Division II title and their first since 2010.

The Eagles (21-1) came ready to play as they jumped out to an 11-7 lead after one quarter, led 25-15 at half and held a 12-point lead with 6:49 left in the third quarter. The Falcons (20-1) weren’t ready to give up though as their vaunted defense held Kennett scoreless for the next five minutes as they went on a 14-0 run to take a 29-27 lead with 1:52 on the clock.

The game was tied at 31-31 entering the fourth quarter, which would be a grind between the two best defensive teams in the division. The two teams combined combined to shoot just 4-16 from the field in the final stanza before setting up McLellan’s game-winning heroics.

While the game ended with two of the most clutch free throw in tournament history by McLellan, the game could be seen as being ultimately decided at the charity stripe. The Eagles were an impressive 11-13 from the line as a team (84.6%) and the Falcons were just 7-13 (53.8%). McLellan alone was a perfect 8-8.

Bow’s Bella LaPerle led all scorers with a game-high 15 points and teammate Alex Larabee added 13. McLellan (14) and Chin (10) both netted double figures to lead Kennett.

Check out the full photo gallery by our own Jill Stevens…

Bow returns to title game with semifinal win over Laconia

KINGSTON – Top-seeded Bow defeated No. 5 Laconia, 42-35, on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the NHIAA Division II Girls Basketball State Tournament at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston. 

The Falcons advance to Sunday’s title game where they will take on No. 2 Kennett at the University of New Hampshire at 1:00 pm. 

Bow got off to a slow start as they trailed 12-9 after one quarter of play, but the Eagles held the Sachems to four points in the second to take a 17-16 lead to the break. 

The second half was hard-fought, but Bow won both quarters and hung on for the seven-point win.

Lyndsey LaPerle pumped in a game-high 16 points to pace Bow, while Juliette Tarsa chipped in with 14 of her own.

Ashlynn Deluca (11 points) and Macy Swormstedt (10) led Laconia in the loss. 

With the win, the Falcons advance to the D-II title game for the second-straight season.

Check out the full photo gallery by our Jill Stevens…

Coe-Brown downs Bow, advances to quarters

Sixth-seeded Coe-Brown dispatched #11 Bow, 70-50, in Division II first round action in Northwood on Wednesday night.

CBNA advances to the quarterfinal round where they will host rival #14 Oyster River on Friday at 7:00 pm.

The Bears were led by a game-high 24 points from Hugh Hamilton and three other double-figure scorers: Brady Kouchokos (13), Connor Bagnell (11) and Nate Ford (10).

The Falcons also featured four players in double-digits: Brendan O’Keefe (12), Marc Folsom (10), Caleb Gazaway (10) and Jake Reardon (10).

[Coe-Brown coverage is brought to you by Tropical Smoothie Cafe]

Check out the full photo gallery by our Jill Stevens…

Falcons lock down Bears

The Bow Falcons avenged their loss in last season’s Division II girls title game with a 35-23 victory over visiting Hanover on Tuesday night.

The Falcons defense was stingy to say the least as they held the Bears to just 12 points through three quarters of play to come away with their fifth-straight victory to open the season. Hanover has now dropped two-in-a-row to fall to 4-2.

Juliette Tarsha pumped in a game-high 17 points, including four first-half threes, to lead the Falcons to the victory, while Alex Larrabee added 12. Sydney McLaughlin paced Hanover with 11.

Check out the highlights by our Tim Lee…