The Conant girls’ basketball team is on a mission this winter. After a shocking upset in last season’s Division III championship game that ended their perfect season and snapped the Orioles’ 58-game winning streak, Conant comes into this year with a big chip on their shoulder and hopes to end it with another banner on the wall.
“Ever since day one, we’ve been grinding to be back to the No. 1 squad and just to be back out on the floor,” said senior point guard and co-captain Brynn Rautiola. “We are hungry for a championship – that’s the mentality every year – but we’re hungry.”
The Orioles showed their talent and desire in a somewhat sloppy but extremely promising 52-39 season-opening win over Stevens at Rindge Memorial School Friday night. The Cardinals came to Rindge as the preseason No. 3 team, and even minus injured forward Alyssa Paquette, Stevens opened with some fire.
“[Stevens is] just a tough group,” said Conant head coach Brian Troy after the game. “You can tell the pieces are there. They have a good young core that could be really good.”
The Cardinals started strong, with junior guard Kiley Bundy (12 points) leading the Stevens offense, and as Conant worked out their early season kinks, the visitors had a good first half, holding the Orioles to seven second-quarter points and trailing just 23-18 at the half.
“First half we were a little scattered,” Troy said, “especially that second quarter, but eventually we settled down and we found the open man and we were ready to shoot.”
The Orioles, a notorious third-quarter team, made their adjustments and took over coming out of the locker room. Reigning Player of the Year and Emmanuel College commit Emma Tenters scored 11 of her game-high 28 points in the frame; she drew six fouls in the post and went a perfect 12-12 from the line.
“Emma’s playing with a big chip on her shoulder this year,” Troy said. “She’s playing with a good level of intensity that is only going to carry this team forward. Her leadership is huge this year, and the biggest thing is her staying consistent and keeping a good frame of mind and she’ll be in good shape.”
Rautiola was steady, hitting a three in each quarter on her way to 15 points. With sophomore Hannah “Hannamal” Manley and senior co-captain Adrienne Kennedy playing tenacious defense, Stevens withered and died down the stretch, and Conant could pull their starters and play out the fourth in little danger.
Next, the Orioles get their first crack at Monadnock since the Huskies’ upset win in last season’s championship game. Both teams graduated some crucial seniors, but the game still has all the trappings of a title-game rematch between local rivals.
“Last year’s teams are gone,” Troy said. “They’re a different team and we’re a different team too, so we’ll see where things shake up and we’ll definitely be prepared. We’ll definitely be ready for what they do. We know Monadnock; in their gym, they’re tough to beat, no matter what team they have, what season it is. So we’re excited, and they’ll be excited too. I think it’ll be a great game. And rivalries make high school sports pretty good too.”
Conant 54, Stevens 39
The Conant boys look to be much improved over last year, winning their opener in Claremont handily Friday night. Sophomore Jared Nagle had 20 points for the Orioles; junior Manny Hodgson had 14 and junior Jordan Nagle grabbed 12 rebounds.
Conant (1-0) hosts Monadnock Tuesday evening.