Hope Bouchard leads Lawrence to A North girls title

Bouchard started the game on fire with 12 first-quarter points to help the Bulldogs to a 19-12 lead after eight minutes.

Bouchard finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Lawrence had the momentum for much of the first half, with Bouchard ending the first two frames with 17 points and Brianna Poulin pouring in 10 points.

Lizzy Gruber, the star forward for the Tigers, scored eight points in the first half, grabbed nine boards and blocked two shots as Gardiner entered the half down 33-20.

In the two regular season meetings, Gardiner won by a combined 13 points.

Gruber ended the game with 26 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.

Gruber began the third quarter with a tough layup inside to cut it to 33-22, but was held scoreless until another layup with 1:42 left in the third that made it 42-31.

Savannah Brown started the fourth off with an old-fashioned three-point play and then, with 4:22 left in the game, sank a 3-pointer from the left corner as the Gardiner fan section erupted in cheers. The Tigers trailed 50-42 but had some life.

With 2:30 left, McKenna Johnson hit two free throws for Gardiner to pull within six, but on the next possession Bouchard answered with two more of her own.

Gruber answered with two minutes left with a layup, followed by one free throw from Bouchard with 1:55 left that gave the Bulldogs a 55-48 advantage.

Bouchard shot 9-of-10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, with her final two giving Lawrence a 57-49 lead with 1:38 to play.

Gardiner’s Megan Gallager drilled two free throws with 44 seconds left to make it a six-point game again.

Poulin made a breakaway layup with 20 seconds left, followed by a Gruber 3-pointer from the corner but with only 10 seconds left, the six-point margin was too much to overcome.

Poulin finished with 15 points in the win.