DURHAM, N.H. — Unbeaten. Undeniable. Unbowed.

That was the Hanover High girls basketball team Sunday night as it routed Bow, 55-24, to claim the NHIAA Division II title at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gymnasium. The top-seeded squad finished the season 21-2 overall and 21-0 in New Hampshire play, its only losses during a New York holiday tournament.

Hanover claimed its second crown in three seasons, its third since 2008 and the fifth of coach Dan O’Rourke’s 21-year tenure. Stella Galanes had a game-high 19 points, coming alive during the second half and scoring 11 points during a 4 minute, 40-second stretch.

The junior guard, who led the division with an average of 21 points per game, had only one point midway through the first half as the Falcons swarmed her. As the contest progressed, however, 6-foot-1 swing player Melissa Whitmore and 5-10 center Jane Lackley gained control of the boards, forcing Bow to sag inside and giving Galanes a bit more time and space.

“I think we saved our best game for when it mattered,” said O’Rourke, who watched Whitmore produce 13 points and nine rebounds and Lackley six points and 11 rebounds. “It’s been a dominant team, winning almost every game by double digits, which is unheard of. I’ve never had a team like this. As well as our offense played, I think our defense played just as well.”

Hanover dominated the scoresheet, making half its 44 shots from the field and half its 14 three-point attempts. Bow shot 22% from the floor, was 1 of 13 from beyond the arc and converted just one of its eight foul shots. The Falcons were outscored, 24-10, in the paint and 14-4 on second-chance shots and claimed just 23 of the night’s 63 rebounds.

“We talked before the game about how the key was going to be rebounding,” O’Rourke said. “That would allow us to get out in transition and if we rebound the ball, we don’t give up second-chance points.”

Lackley, a Woodstock resident who began attending Hanover as a tuition student following her freshman year, had a larger effect on the game than her numbers might indicate. She displayed ball-handling poise, was a shot-altering force on defense and showed vast improvement from last season.

“We knew (Bow) was going to key on Stella and Melissa, so we talked to the other kids and told them this was their time to shine,” O’Rourke said, noting the contribution of guard Eliza Daigle, who made 4 of 7 field-goal attempts and contributed eight points during 14 minutes of playing time. “Jane drove and dished. We attacked the middle of the paint and kicked out to our shooters.”

Galanes, an undersized guard with dreams of big-time college basketball, displayed NBA shooting range and her usual gimlet eye. At one point, the Sharon resident had 19 points and Bow collectively had only 18.

“When she gets going, it’s a beautiful thing,” O’Rourke marveled. “The ball doesn’t hit the rim. It’s just swish after swish after swish.”

Hanover led, 12-5, after a quarter and 26-10 at intermission. Galanes made 3 of 4 field-goal attempts and led the Maroon and White with eight points at the break. Whitmore had five points and six rebounds and Lackley, playing a larger role than in many games this season, was only 1 of 6 from the field but contributed five rebounds.

“I just fed off all the energy in the locker room and this was such a great environment to play in,” said Lackley, who faces a daily 30-minute drive to and from school. “Coming to Hanover was a difficult decision but I thought it would be a better fit, academically and athletically. I couldn’t be happier about where I am.”

Each team had nine turnovers during a back-and-forth start to the contest that had a scrambly feel. Third-seeded Bow was held to 4 of 21 field-goal shooting (19%) and made only 1 of 9 attempts from behind the 3-point arc. Hanover converted 10 of 23 shots from the field (44%) and outscored the Falcons, 14-4, in the paint.

“Bow was getting to the rim on drives in the first half and we really had to cut that down,” said O’Rourke, whose team beat visiting Bow, 50-28, in December. “We play 99.9 percent man-to-man, but we practiced zone all this week, just to have a different wrinkle to throw in there if we needed to. But we were playing so well, I didn’t dare pull the trigger.”

Every player on Hanover’s roster except Lackley competed for the Hanover Heat AAU organization O’Rourke founded years ago. With an emphasis on fundamentals and equal playing time and disregard for victories and losses, it’s the type of feeder system every coach covets.

O’Rourke said he knew the current high school crop would be special when its seniors were sixth graders and advanced to the state finals, losing by three points to a Nashua all-star squad. The seniors who attended Hanover for four years finished 77-3 with two losses in the state semifinals and never dropped a home game.

“This is a moment we were all hoping for and dreaming of, but I wouldn’t say we were focused on it,” said guard Caroline Adams, who had four points, seven rebounds and three assists. “It wasn’t something we talked about every day. Every year since third grade, we’ve gotten better and gotten to know each other better on and off the court.

“This whole season was our journey and we were able to cherish every single moment. We had so much fun.”

A physician, O’Rourke voluntarily subsists on about four hours of sleep a night. He thought getting any heading into Monday morning was unlikely, with a review of the title game video likely on the docket.

“I told the kids we’d be fine if we did the little things,” the coach said. “It was going to come down to did you box out? Did you screen? Did you make a sharp pass and then run the floor.

“The bus ride home’s going to fun and I’ll be up late. We’re going to enjoy this one for a while.”

Notes: Galanes played all but 24 seconds of the game. Adams and Whitmore played more than 27 minutes and Lackley more than 26… Dartmouth College men’s basketball coach David McLaughlin, the father of Hanover guard Sydney McLaughlin, attended the game, whooping loudly as he passed through the entrance to the court and drawing return cheers from the team… Longtime Upper Valley referee Pete DePalo was one of the contest’s three zebras, having apparently recovered from a leg injury suffered earlier this month during a Hanover-Lebanon boys contest… Asked earlier in the week for something at which she struggles, Galanes laughed and offered up miniature golf. “So frustrating,” she said… Despite an administration edict that Hanover’s longtime nickname no longer be used, the rowdy student section chanted “Marauders! Slaughter!” several times during the evening… O’Rourke said UNH’s court is four feet longer than his team’s home floor… Adams said that at O’Rourke’s suggestion, her team regularly schedules 5-10 minutes of “family time” before practices, during which the players sit in a circle and discuss an upcoming game or how their school day has gone… The only thing missing from Sunday’s experience? School pep bands, a common feature at high school games in other parts of the country, but rarely seen in the Granite State.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.

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