12 girls standouts from the Londonderry Holiday Classic

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — New Hampshire is a small state with a small but proud elite tier of high school girls basketball. Londonderry coach Jon Doherty believed he and other top teams were being overlooked for too long — they were even removed from a Massachusetts tournament because they were seen as a lesser opponent. He has since poured his efforts into growing the Londonderry Holiday Classic.

Four years later and the showcase has ballooned to arguably the best field of any holiday break girls tournament in New England. This year, five of the six states were represented, including a handful of last year's state champions (Londonderry is a returning NHIAA Division 1 finalist) and a host of Division 1 to Division 3-caliber individual talent.

As soon as the high school season ends in spring, Doherty reaches out to the champions and top teams from around the region to start a conversation. He obviously wants the Londonderry Invitational to gain recognition, but Doherty also wants to give his team a difficult schedule that they can't always find in-state. That helps show Londonderry and New Hampshire at large can compete with the best — and it helps give his players another reason to stay home instead of going to a prep school.

"I want the competition," he said. "I want New Hampshire basketball to get the recognition that it should, because there's good teams here."

I attended Saturday's portion of the three-day event that ran through Monday. It was an enlightening opportunity for me to see how the MIAA teams I cover can handle juggernauts like Londonderry and Bedford in New Hampshire. I also got to watch programs like Sacred Heart Academy (Conn.) and Barrington (R.I.), top teams within their states. It was a great slate of matchups you'd rarely find otherwise; I even watched some games I missed on YouTube. Shoutout to The Highlight Guy for those broadcasts — and for bringing me on the air during the final two Saturday games!

Here are 12 standouts from the showcase.

Saturday

Barrington 43, Pinkerton 33
Londonderry 73, Burlington 38
Medfield 62, Bedford 29
Sacred Heart 57, Windham 25

Sunday

Bishop Guertin 32, Windham 26
Bedford 44, Sacred Heart 38
Londonderry 41, Bishop Feehan 34
Barrington 56, Burlington 43
Medfield 76, Pinkerton 24

Monday

Medfield 58, Londonderry 45
Bedford 71, Burlington 25
Barrington 30, Windham 21
Sacred Heart 62, Bishop Guertin 37
Bishop Feehan 55, Bishop Guertin 41

Kameli Annigeri, Medfield

Class of 2029, 5-7 guard

Saturday's commanding win against Bedford was Annigeri's breakout game. She's the third Annigeri sister to pass through the varsity program, and like her sisters, Annigeri is long, an active defender and a perimeter sharpshooter. She scored 11 points, made three 3s and joined Naya Annigeri at the top of Medfield's 2-1-2 press. Annigeri also grabbed a couple of pivotal offensive rebounds in the second quarter when Medfield ballooned the lead to a 39-10 halftime score. She's not afraid to battle and win 50-50 plays.

Naya Annigeri, Medfield

Class of 2027, 5-8 guard

This was an incredible three-day stretch that showed why Annigeri is among the best two-way players in New England state association schools. Starting with the defense: Annigeri on the ball and in the Medfield press was just a nightmare for opponents. Her long arms, active hands and timing led to eight steals in the Bedford win and countless deflections across all three games, pressuring the ball and also thwarting a ton of passing lanes. She's even capable of staying with fast guards on drives and swatting layup attempts.

Offensively, Annigeri scored 12 points against Bedford, 21 against Pinkerton and 20 against Londonderry. She hit on a super deep 3-pointer against Bedford but continues to look to drive and collapse defenses more, which is a good sign. Annigeri spammed the baseline drive-to-opposite corner pass for a few assists. I'm so impressed by how she shined against two teams with some of the best guard talent in the region.

Brooke Benz, Pinkerton

Class of 2026, 5-10 forward
NCAA: SNHU

Benz tied Taya Brown for the team lead with 11 points in Saturday's loss to Barrington. She's a powerful wing/forward who uses physical drives to create space around the rim and finish. Benz had a tough and-1 bucket and got to another layup via a spin move. She made some monster blocks on defense too and was strong defending drives against a smaller opponent. Pinkerton trailed 27-9 in that game but brought it back to an ultimate 10-point defeat. Benz also scored 11 points in Sunday's loss to Medfield, with Brown adding 12.

Abby Broderick, Medfield

Class of 2028, 5-10 guard/forward

Broderick's breakout sophomore season continued in Londonderry; she scored 22, 17 and 19 points across the three games. Her 3-point attempts are flying faster and with more confidence, and she's taken the next step as perhaps the best shooter on the Warriors. But Broderick also gets involved as a screener and runs some cool two-player actions with Naya Annigeri. She has a deceptive crossover and can take the ball off the dribble, and she even pulled off this sweet up-and-under move in the fourth quarter against Londonderry. Broderick is quiet, unassuming and not super explosive, but then she takes the floor and shows a ton of skill and effort. She's a huge reason the Warriors have experienced essentially no falloff from last year.

Maddy Burke, Sacred Heart Academy

Class of 2026, 5-9 guard/forward
NCAA: Bentley

Burke, without scoring a ton of points, was among my favorite players at this showcase because of her versatility and court awareness as a strong wing. She scored eight points and hit a 3 against Windham, also making a few smart extra passes that opened up more easy buckets. In Sunday's close loss to Bedford, Burke made a sweet backdoor 45 cut for a layup, hit on a corner 3 and sealed off a smaller guard in the post for a bucket. She took advantage of her strength and size by backing down smaller guards and got involved on the boards, finishing with 11 points and five rebounds.

Genesis Castro, Barrington

Class of 2028, guard

Castro is a smaller guard — I'd estimate her to be around 5-4 or 5-5 — but she's dangerous off the dribble. She scored 23 of her team's 43 points against Pinkerton. Castro is shifty with her handle, quick and great at using her body to create separation and finish at the rim with all sorts of angles. She had finger-roll layups, driving buckets through contact and mid-air adjustment layups. She also hit mid-range and 3-point shots off pull-ups and had some nice drive-and-kick moments. Castro drilled seven 3s Sunday en route to 23 points again.

Finn Gunning, Sacred Heart Academy

Class of 2029, guard

Gunning caught fire on Saturday in the rout of Windham, drilling four 3-pointers en route to 14 points. Her confidence off the catch is obvious and it's helped her carve out a role quickly on an elite team. Gunning wasn't as lights-out in Sunday's loss to Bedford, but she did show more off the dribble with a nice running make and added some solid on-ball defense.

Sarah Muir, Bedford

Class of 2026, 5-7 guard
NCAA: Anderson

Despite Bedford's bad loss to Medfield, Muir still shined with her perimeter defense. She made life difficult for Naya Annigeri and her attempted drives in the half-court, sliding her feet quickly and aggressively pressuring the ball. Then against Sacred Heart, Muir heated up offensively. She hit four 3-pointers, including a massive wing 3 off the catch that gave Bedford a 40-38 lead it wouldn't relinquish. I also thought Muir made some really sharp cuts that got her open layups. She's great moving without the basketball and it helped the Bulldogs overcome a heavy diet of opposing zone defense.

Mollie Mullen, Bishop Feehan

Class of 2026, 5-9 guard
NCAA: Stonehill

Mullen powered the Shamrocks with 12 points in a sluggish loss to Londonderry where the opposing defense made it tough for Feehan to find easy driving lanes. She still hit two 3s: one open off the catch and one very deep from the top of the arc. Mullen did a good job using ball screens to find space for mid-range pull-ups that weren't falling in this game. She also was patient on one possession to make a screen on the wing work for her, getting to a baseline drive and throwing a perfect kick-out pass to the opposite wing for an Addie Frenette 3-pointer. Mullen tallied 15 points, six rebounds and four steals in Monday's win against Bishop Guertin.

Gemma Murray, Londonderry

Class of 2027, 5-7 guard

When Murray gets a head of steam and an open lane, she's so tough to stop. The point guard averaged 14 points over the three games, highlighted by 19 points against Burlington. She's a weapon in transition with her speed and heads-up passing. Against Burlington Saturday, Murray threw a dime in transition up to Brooke Eacrett for an easy layup. She can also really heat up behind the 3-point arc and opened the Bishop Feehan game Sunday with two made 3s.

As a passer, Murray showed great recognition of defensive help and made a few smart dump-off passes to teammates for easy layups. I also thought Murray showed some of the best all-around hustle in this showcase. She dove and leapt to save loose balls, chased down a couple of big blocked shots and stayed active defending the passing lanes. She holds Division 1 offers from Bryant and Le Moyne.

Sammie Sullivan, Londonderry

Class of 2026, 5-10 guard/forward
NCAA: Bryant

Sullivan provided 21 points in Londonderry's Monday loss to Medfield. She had a size advantage as a strong wing against Medfield's defense and took advantage, getting to the short mid-range for floaters and finishing at the basket. Sullivan was confident attacking closeouts, which helped her beat a Medfield zone that frustrated teams throughout the showcase. Londonderry got her a post touch that she scored to start the second half, and then in the fourth quarter, she grabbed a pick-and-roll pass with one hand, spun and finished through a foul.

Sullivan's such a tough matchup as a perimeter player with her size and strength at this level. She also led Londonderry with 14 points in Sunday's win against Bishop Feehan, similarly overpowering the opposition with drives to the basket and playing quality help defense.

Eva Zink, Bedford

Class of 2028, 6-0 forward

With star forward Mel McCarthy injured for this showcase, Zink had the tough challenge as the Bulldogs' closest match to a post player. It meant she had to be assertive when she got the ball in the paint, and that she had to defend some tough opposing bigs like Sacred Heart's Mila Harmon.

Zink led Bedford in the loss to Medfield with 10 points, but I thought she was even better against Sacred Heart. Her post defense against Harmon was phenomenal as Zink consistently battled against a bigger, stronger forward, denying post entry passes and keeping Harmon from doing much of anything with the ball. Zink also stayed aggressive attacking the basket; I believe she finished 13-of-15 from the free-throw line in Sunday's victory.

Quick shouts: I didn't get to watch every game of this showcase, but the coaches collectively voted for All-Tournament first and second teams that are listed below and include some additional standouts. Also, a quick shoutout to Bishop Guertin, who did in fact play back-to-back games to cap Monday's slate, replacing Pinkerton after the team could not compete due to a school power outage.

All-Tournament First Team