After playing nearly the entire Division III tournament opener at Hopkinton Tuesday night, Conant senior star Elizabeth Gonyea came to the bench for the final few minutes, the Oriole win already well in hand. Gonyea might have been forgiven for taking a breather; after all, the reigning Player of the Year had just scored a game-high 18 points and rolled an ankle in the process. Instead, Gonyea sat down, commanded her teammates, and started a chant: “DE-FENSE!”
“Our bench players are always in it the whole time for us,” Gonyea said after the game. “We can feel the energy when we’re playing. So I wanted to do the same thing for them to make sure they knew that their minutes were earned and that they deserve to finish off that game.”
Finish it off they did. The Orioles, undaunted by the surprise trip to perennial DIII contender Hopkinton, dominated the Hawks in the second half and ran away with a 54-25 playoff win, their 33rd win in a row.
Hopkinton has plenty of experience against Conant over these past few years; back in 2018, when this year’s seniors were freshman, the two programs met in the finals, a Conant victory.
“They’re just a class program,” Conant head coach Brian Troy said, “and every time we play them, it’s a good battle. So their heads shouldn’t be down. They gave us a great battle that first half and then we just kind of ran away with it a little bit.”
Defense is to be expected when these two teams match up, and Tuesday was no exception. Neither team mustered a field goal for the first five minutes of the ballgame, and after a 12-5 Conant first quarter, the Orioles shut out everyone but senior Maurgan McGrath in the second; McGrath scored five of her team-high seven there, including a late three, to keep Hopkinton fighting for their lives.
The Hawks came out of the half and cut the lead to 20-15 on a Brooke Carlson three-pointer, but that would be the closest they’d come. Brynn Rautiola, who’d been carried off the court earlier by Gonyea and Mylie Aho after twisting an ankle, returned the favor in the third quarter, carrying the Orioles with six of her 11 points.
The fourth quarter belonged to Emma Tenters, who scored eight of her 16 down low late. By the time the starters came out and the bench got their run, the Orioles were up nearly 30.
“Every win on the road, especially in playoffs, is going to be a team win,” Gonyea said. “Not one person is gonna win it for you, it’s going to be a collective team win.”
The Orioles’ bus ride back to Jaffrey must have been a chilly one, given all the ice the girls loaded on board for those playoff bumps and bruises, and they have a quick turnaround with a trip to Monadnock Thursday for a prelim round game. Conant beat Monadnock twice in the regular season, winning by 30 both times, but Troy and the Orioles aren’t counting their chickens.
“It’s going to be another tough road game,” Troy said. “In the playoffs, every game from here on out, you’ve got to take serious. There is no tomorrow – you’ve got to play like that. You’ve got to battle through injuries. I think every team is probably a little banged up at this point in the season, you know? We’ll be ready to go. My team are competitors and they’re warriors and they’ll be ready to play on Thursday.”