HANOVER — Several of the Hanover High girls basketball team’s multi-year winning streaks have come to an end this season, but the one constant has remained: the Bears’ dominance at home.

That continued in Wednesday evening’s NHIAA Division II playoff opener, which No. 4 seed Hanover controlled essentially from the opening tip to the final buzzer in a 51-30 victory over No. 13 seed Bishop Brady.

The Bears are now 48-0 in their home gym since the start of the 2018-19 season.

“We’ve gotten much better throughout the year,” Hanover coach Dan O’Rourke said. “Early on, we had to overcome stuff, but we are playing well overall. It’s not going to be an easy road to the championship, but we’re going to be a hard out.”

The Bears (16-6 overall, 15-4 NHIAA) had already been in playoff mode the last two weeks, needing to win their last four regular-season games to lock up a top-four seed and get two postseason games in front of their home crowd. O’Rourke said that already had his team in the right place mentally heading into Wednesday, and Hanover scored the game’s first seven points and held a 12-4 lead after a quarter.

Junior guard Sydney McLaughlin had eight of those first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 19 on five 3-pointers, four of which came from the corners.

“We came out with a lot of energy to start the game,” McLaughlin said. “There were definitely some playoff nerves, but in the playoffs, there’s really not a lot of room for error if you aren’t mentally tough.”

McLaughlin’s teammates also pitched in offensively — finding enough scoring was a struggle early in the year in the wake of Stella Galanes’ preseason ACL injury. Senior forwards Nina Sablan and Amina Ajwang added 10 and nine points, respectively, with eight of Sablan’s output coming in the second half.

Junior forward Kristina Marshall chipped in with seven points, including a driving layup just ahead of the halftime buzzer to give the Bears a 15-point lead.

“Everyone’s just stepping up,” McLaughlin said. “People are playing positions and roles that they didn’t think they were going to coming into the season, but we’re doing great.”

Hanover will again put its home win streak on the line in Saturday’s quarterfinal matchup against No. 5 seed Laconia, a 59-44 winner over John Stark in its first-round game. The Bears picked up a 48-41 road win over the Sachems on Jan. 24 and also defeated them in last year’s semifinals on their way to the state championship.

“Laconia is a formidable challenge,” O’Rourke said. “They have essentially everyone back. They’re a high-quality team with lots of talent, so we’re going to have to play well to beat them.

“It’s certainly not going to be an easy game, but if we do all the fundamental things and all the little things we’ve been preaching all year, we’ll at least have a shot.”

Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.

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