LONDONDERRY, N.H. — Before Bedford (N.H.) faced Bishop Feehan — the defending MIAA Division 1 champion and our current top-ranked team — in the Londonderry Girls Holiday Tournament last Sunday, junior guard Annie Zink approached Bulldogs coach Kevin Gibbs with a request.
Gibbs had initially tasked Zink with defending Feehan sharpshooter Maddy Steel. But Zink wanted to match up against Brown commit Charlotte Adams-Lopez, in part to have evidence of her guarding Division 1-caliber point guards for viewers and college coaches.
"I just went up to him and I was like, 'I really want to get film guarding this girl. Would you let me guard her?'" Zink recalled. "He's like, 'Yeah, no problem. I know you can do that.'"
The Bulldogs pulled away from a 36-36 tie in the second half to win, 61-49, at Londonderry High. Zink scored 11 points in what Gibbs openly told his team was a "statement game."
"That was the most fun game I've played in a long time," Zink said. "It's always good to know that your coaches have your back."
In an era where several states contribute to New England's basketball prominence — Massachusetts has the Celtics and AJ Dybantsa, Connecticut has UConn, and Maine has Cooper Flagg — New Hampshire quietly boasts the region's best state association girls program.
Bedford rides a 30-game winning streak, including a perfect 2023-24 season capped with an NHIAA Division 1 championship. The Bulldogs have beaten Bishop Feehan twice during that stretch. They treat scrimmages as important as games and tout those victories too, most notably against MIAA Div. 1 runner-up Wachusett and Vermont stalwart Burlington last season.
"I know our entire team and me personally, we treat those scrimmages just like every other game," captain Kate Allard, a Boston University commit, said.
The town of Bedford didn't even have its own high school until 2007. The Bulldogs found success quickly, earning a state championship in 2012-13. Gibbs joined the program as an assistant nine years ago. Then in 2019, following a controversial firing of then-head coach Sue Thomas after a school investigation into the program culture, Gibbs moved up to the head coaching spot.
The Bulldogs have made at least the state semifinals every season since, and won titles in 2020-21 and last winter. Recent graduate Lana McCarthy now starts at Purdue, a rare high-major talent in today's era who stayed at her local public school. But this year's team with only two seniors on the roster, and a sophomore and freshman in the starting lineup, might be even better.
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"One of the things that I always tell the girls is: From middle school to here, you're going from basic mathematics to advanced calculus. We're not going to dumb what we do down," Gibbs said. "You're on this team as a freshman because we are fully aware, and we think that you are capable."
Gibbs is so entrenched in Bedford's youth basketball ecosystem that he can name fifth-graders who he believes will be high school contributors. Many of the Bulldogs got their starts as elementary school participants in the Bedford Basketball League town travel program. Those youth teams and the Ross A. Lurgio Middle School team frequently attend Bedford games, where they sit behind the bench, observe warmups and follow the Bulldogs into the locker rooms to watch their pregame and halftime discussions. Bedford players even run Bulldog Camp sessions for younger hoopers during the summer.
"I want them to know what the culture is like. I don't want it to be this big mystery for them," Gibbs said.
Gibbs is the overseer of Bedford's basketball pipeline, but he doesn't try to keep kids under his control. When McCarthy was having shooting struggles, he helped set her up to train with Jon Doherty, a well-respected shooting coach — and the head coach of rival Londonderry. Gibbs recently joined Mass Rivals as an AAU coach, but he'll proudly say that his Bedford players suit up for five different grassroots programs.
Players appreciate that the Bedford staff is receptive to constructive feedback. Ella Allard, a sophomore and Kate's younger sister, likes how coaches arrange individual preseason meetings with every player to discuss personal and team goals. Zink's request against Bishop Feehan is one specific example, but Mel McCarthy (also a sophomore and also a younger sister, to Lana) had her own process last season.
"Last year, there were a couple big turning points for me — either I was frustrated with how I was doing or I felt like I wasn't really getting what I deserved — but I wanted to be playing more than I was last year," she said. "So I talked to (Gibbs) about it, he told me what I needed to work on, I worked on it, and then it changed, just like that. So having those conversations with him. He tells me exactly what I need to do, and when he sees that I've done that, he'll make the changes that need to be changed."
That open dialogue helps the roster buy into team success. Lana McCarthy averaged 14.9 points per game last season because she was often playing about half of a blowout victory. This year, only two players average double-digit points, which dramatically undersells the depth of talent on the roster.
Gibbs — known by players for his encyclopedic use of quotes and phrases, which he'll incorporate into every practice plan — has one that sticks with Allard: Mudita. It's a word that carries weight in Buddhist traditions and doesn't have a perfect English translation, but is roughly defined as the joy found in seeing others succeed.
"He just says (to) take pride in other success, not just your own," Allard said. "And also, as a team, we don't look at scoring as the number one thing. We look at defense first, and we also really emphasize a lot of assists and other things that make the scoring happen."
Gibbs also says he barely needs to force team bonding activities; the captains take care of it themselves. They host pasta dinners the nights before every home game. They held ia team Secret Santa during the holidays. The established culture certainly helps, but there's another layer.
Four families of sisters have helped define the present and future of Bedford girls basketball: the Allards, McCarthys, Zinks (Annie and freshman Eva, a starter) and Muirs (Megan, a 2024 graduate and current lacrosse player at Anderson College, and current starting junior Sarah). The families have grown up together in the Bedford basketball world, and some of the parents coached travel teams.
Ella Allard recalls being prepped for Bedford's high school standards by Kate.
"Anytime we would do our own workouts at home, she would be like, 'Oh, this is how I do this,' or she would give me feedback on how to do something better," Ella said. "She would talk to me about confidence and how it's really not just about the skills. The mindset is really important also."
Kate Allard will play at BU. Junior Sarah Muir has already committed to Div. 2 Anderson. Annie Zink is a collegiate prospect. Mel McCarthy and Eva Zink have been offered by New Hampshire. Add in Ella Allard as a promising sophomore and freshman Ava Collins (another oldest sister of a talented family), and there could be — at least — seven future college basketball players on the current Bulldogs.
For them to all be from one school system is impressive enough. For them to stay in Bedford amidst the increasing pull of prep school matters too.
It's why Gibbs will hype up in-state rivals like Londonderry and Pinkerton Academy just as much as his own team. It's why he's so determined to schedule tough regional opponents; the growing Londonderry Girls Holiday Tournament will include more New England powers, like MIAA Div. 2 champion Medfield, next winter. He wants to give the players the level of competition that places like NEPSAC so often advertise.
"I want them to realize there's a there's a good reason to stay at Bedford High School," Gibbs said. "There's a good reason to stay here, and we put a lot of work in for them too. ... "(It's a) huge motivator. I mean, if there were kids who took what you did for granted, it would be very hard to coach, but these kids are very appreciative of what we do."
