SALEM, N.H. — When you have a young team, there will always be growing pains.
It’s a part of sports at the high school level, having seniors come and go. But the challenge is even greater for the Salem High girls basketball team this winter.
The Blue Devils have zero seniors, and are a team full of juniors, sophomores, and one freshman. Coach Ricky Oliver knows how important those lessons can be with a large amount of underclassmen on his team.
“It’s all about teaching that basketball IQ, it’s about putting in that work, and we watch a lot of film, but it’s tough with a young group,” said Oliver. “It’s about teaching them how to really play the game, and we have to go right back at it.”
On Friday night, when Salem welcomed undefeated Londonderry, those growing pains were evident, as the Lancers rolled to a 64-31 victory.
“We have to have a lot more grit, it’s as simple as that,” said Oliver. “We have a large group of young kids, and we have to come in and play hard every time we hit that court. We knew that Londonderry was able to get to the rim, but we did not expect them to shoot like how they did from deep.”
Despite forcing tough shots, the Blue Devils could not stop the three-pointer. Londonderry finished the evening with 10 threes, with five coming off the hand of sharpshooter Samantha Sullivan.
Salem trailed 7-4 early on, before the Lancers took over. Leading 16-4 at the end of the first quarter, the Londonderry lead grew to 37-18 at the half.
Captain Gabriella Mosto and Caroline Case played well for the Blue Devils, scoring seven and six points, respectively. The duo helped Salem add points in the second half, but they were unable to stop the Lancers attack.
Going forward for Oliver and his Blue Devils, it’s all about getting beyond those growing pains, and building a strong future.
“We need to take what the defense gives us, getting better at what we do is crucial,” said Oliver. “We don’t worry about the opponent, yes we do our scouting, but we really have to get better at what we personally do. If we can do that, we will be in good shape.”
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Londonderry 64, Salem 31
Salem – Valery Nunez 7, Gabriella Mosto 7, Makayla Burns 6, Caroline Case 5, Lindsay Goetz 4, Lillian George 2,