The expectations were off the charts for Bishop Guertin High School’s girls basketball program.
The Cardinals came into the winter season with five returning starters from a Division I title team, and the addition of a talented player, who was forced to sit out last winter after transferring into the school. To top it off, coming off the bench are two or three players who would start on any other team statewide.
Other girls’ basketball coaches have had to deal with the same kind of hype.
John Fagula did it when he coached a loaded Nashua High School team during the 1980s and 1990s.
Recently retired Winnacunnet of Hampton coach Ed Beattie met it head on while his team was winning five straight Division I titles between 2007-2011.
Bishop Guertin head coach Scott Hazelton, who won a Division I title as a rookie coach last winter, knew he couldn’t let outside expectations undermine what worked for his team a year ago.
“What got us there last year was working very hard every day in practice,” Hazelton said. “That’s where we are right now, hunkering down, still looking to improve.”
There were some surprising early season stumbles for the Cardinals, none more stupefying than a 47-42 loss at Dover. The Green Wave, currently 5-5, was coming off a loss at Exeter in which they scored just 12 points and failed to score for an entire half.
The Cardinals would fall again two weeks later, losing to Bedford in the finals of the Nashua North Girls Christmas Tournament.
That loss was more understandable.![]()
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