Bishop Guertin's Brook Paquette, along with teammates Hannah Lynch (12) and Catelyn Wheeler (30) celebrate a big Meghan Stack basket during Tuesday night's Division I semifinals vs. Goffstown in Londonderry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

LONDONDERRY – It was rock ’em, sock ’em basketball on Tuesday night, but the No. 1 Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball team didn’t seem to mind.

That’s because they realized everything they had done all season long had prepared them for the very real threat that the No. 4 Goffstown Grizzlies were with about a quarter to go in the Division I semifinals at Londonderry High School.

The Grizzlies had hung around, cutting Guertin’s lead to 50-43 heading into the final quarter, and it was 53-46 after a Goffstown 3-pointer with 6:25 to go.

But the Cards finished with a 14-3 run en route to a 67-49 win that lands them in their seventh straight final, and fifth in the last seven years vs. No. 3 Bedford at the University of New Hampshire. The Bulldogs escaped with a 64-60 win over No. 2 Portsmouth in the earlier semi.

Simply put for the 20-0 Cards, there was no panic, helped by some of their out-of-state games as well as a couple of in-state tussles.

“We’ve been there before,” Guertin senior center Meghan Stack, who led the all scorers with 25 points, said. “So many of our out of state games, so many of our in-season game. We’ve been in this position with our backs against the wall and we fought out of it.”

“I know I sound like a broken record,” Cardinals coach Brad Kreick said. “I’m absolutely convinced that going on the road and playing hard games all season long, where we find ourselves in a eight, six, two-point game late third quarter, early fourth quarter, and having worked our way through that, you saw we kept our heads together – and the kids made plays when they needed to make plays. I thought they did a great job.”

Guertin had led 21-8 after one quarter, but Goffstown (17-4), led by one of the state’s best scorers in Ava Winterburn (team high 24 points), slightly cut the margin to 29-20 at the half and then a little more heading into the final period.

“It felt like we had four or five opportunities when we were up double digits,” Kreick said. “We got up 11, 12, 13 a few times, and had opportunities to put a spurt on them. But look, that’s a really gritty group of kids. They just hang around, hang around, they just kept bringing it.”

“I’m just proud of our kids, they kept punching back,” Goffstown coach Steve Largy said. “Kept fighting, they’d go on a run, they’d come back and we’d cut it down again. These kids have not quit at all, ever. … We spotted ’em 13 in the first quarter and continues to claw back.”

The breaking point came when Hannah Lynch drove for a layup to make it 57-47 with 4:38 to go, and then 20 seconds later hit a corner 3-pointer to give the Cards a 60-47 lead with 4:17 left. The Grizzlies, who hit five treys on the night themselves, had to have that sinking feeling.

“That corner 3 was absolutely huge,” Kreick said. “(Lynch) didn’t hesitate and she just stuck it.”

Lynch had one of her better games with 14 points, and the aggressive nature of the game seemed to suit her fine.

“I didn’t really focus on that,” Lynch said. “I had an open shot, just took it, hoped it went down. And it did.”

“So many weapons,” Largy said. “They can beat you in a lot of different places, so you have so many different things you’ve got to cover. You make a run, and you’re hoping to take that run a little bit deeper but they have so many kids who can stop it.”

Stack, who missed all of last year following knee surgery, was immense in the low post, and that, Kreick said, was the game plan. And why not? She’d either have a high percentage shot or she’d go to the line where she was money, hitting 11 of 12. Her and Lynch were the keys.

“They were both great,” Kreick said. “Meghan was unbelievable all game long, and Lynch is a real gamer, she’s not afraid of anything, that kid.”

Goffstown also got 10 points from Ava Ruggiero, whose big 3 made it 53-46 early in the fourth. Brooke Paquette chipped in with 12 for the Cards.

But a big moment also came when Winterburn, who was playing much of the quarter with four fouls, finally got her fifth 3:33 left. Stack hit the subsequent two freebies to make it 62-47

Besides experience, there was something else the Cards felt got them through it.

“Heart,” Stack said. “I feel like that’s a very cliché answer, but we wanted this badly, we have a lot of seniors on the team. I think what got us through the game was just focusing on us, focusing on what we need to do. It’s a 32-minute game, so playing for the entire time.”

“They (the Grizzlies) hit shots, and some tough ones, too,” Kreick said. “I told the kids before the game, it’s not supposed to be easy. It’s a state semifinal game. They’re not going away. … Our kids played hard start to finish, we just played another really good basketball team, and made some plays down the stretch.

“And we get a chance Sunday to go compete for a state title.”

And that one won’t be easy, either.