The holidays are over and the winter basketball season is getting serious. Here’s how our local teams are faring as the middle portion of the schedule gets underway.
ConVal girls
Last we heard from the ConVal girls, they were riding high after snapping a 40-game losing streak. After that win over Bishop Brady in December, the Cougars came back down to earth a bit. ConVal played at the first annual Rob Colbert Holiday Tournament at Keene State College, where they suffered a humbling loss to Division III power and eventual tourney champion Monadnock. Things didn’t go much better in their return to the Division II schedule on Tuesday, as DII No. 1 Coe-Brown (5-0) stayed undefeated with a 48-25 win, though the Cougar defense showed flashes of total lockdown ability.
Savannah McCarthy paced ConVal with 13 points; she leads the Cougars with 9.8 ppg; Olivia Healey’s return should help bolster the team, which is playing without injured captain Brielle Proctor for the moment, and the emergence of Amelie Davis has been a boon for the Cougars as well.
ConVal (1-3) returns to action Friday at 5 p.m. against Souhegan as part of the two schools’ annual Claws for a Cause fundraising doubleheader.
ConVal boys
The Cougars lost on the road at Coe-Brown Tuesday night, 60-50, to fall to 1-3 on the season. ConVal got their lone win before the break, beating Bishop Brady, and won one out of three at the Colbert tournament, knocking off Stevens and losing to Fall Mountain and Conant.
ConVal is led by Max Cail, who’s averaging 18.3 ppg, good for eighth in Division II, while Evan Lyons, Keith Whitney, Brayden Boyce and Henry Taylor continue to improve and contribute.
The Cougars have Souhegan at home Friday night.
Conant girls
The Orioles are scuffling a bit to start the season, as they have yet to win a game and were 0-5 heading into Wednesday’s planned affair at Hopkinton, which is unlikely to cure what ails Conant. This year’s squad will need to get it done on defense and spread the ball around on offense, as they don’t have the take-the-game-over type scorers they’ve leaned on in previous years. Nonetheless, captain Ella Derosier (team-high 8.8 ppg) is playing well, along with co-captains Myla Jones (5.2 ppg) and senior Violet Bennett (4.4 ppg).
Conant boys
A couple more games against Raymond might do the Orioles well, as Conant has won both their games against the Rams this season with a three-game losing skid in between. On Monday, the Orioles knocked off the Rams 48-41 behind a 14-point performance from senior co-captain Drey Seppala, who has Conant on an even keel, leading along with co-captains Kaiden Charron and Braeden Dion. Emerging young big man Carter Letourneau (9 ppg) looks promising, and Jaiden Nagle is keeping up the family business as a scorer, too.
Conant played their way to third at the Keene tourney, beating rival Mascenic, losing to eventual champion Keene and then beating ConVal in the third-place game.
Conant (2-3) was set to play at Hopkinton Wednesday night and host Campbell Friday.
Mascenic girls
The Vikings were the surprise of the Keene holiday tournament; as the smallest school in the gym, Division IV Mascenic won their way to the finals before falling to Monadnock despite a 19-point outing from Derryfield transfer Breanna McCabe. McCabe has slotted in nicely next to Sienna Gregory to form a solid one-two scoring punch to go along with the solid defense of Jordin Schuler, Hannah Cargill and Hailey Saari.
After dropping three to start the season, the Vikings have now won three straight regular-season games. Most recently, Mascenic blew out Sunapee on the road, 66-30, to improve to 3-3. The Vikings were set to play at Wilton-Lyndeborough on Wednesday night after press time and then play at Holy Family on Friday.
Mascenic boys
Mascenic’s boys didn’t fare quite as well in the Keene tourney, finishing sixth, but they had their share of excitement. After the loss to Conant, the Vikings beat Monadnock 53-51 on a Colin Koukkari three-pointer that gave Mascenic the lead with just eight seconds left; they’d eventually fall to Stevens in the fifth-place game.
Like the Viking girls, the Mascenic boys are now 3-3 on the season and riding a three-game winning streak, thanks in no small part to captain Chuck Phillips, who’s averaging a team-high 11 ppg over that period. The Vikings played an excellent game for the 60-56 win up at Profile to resume the regular season on Jan. 2 and then ran away with a 62-24 win at Sunapee Monday.
Mascenic was scheduled to play at WLC Wednesday night and at Holy Family Friday.
Wilton-Lyndeborough girls
The Warriors started out their season with a tough schedule, coach Tom Crowley said, and it’s showing on their record. WLC won their opener by 30 at Epping but haven’t won a game since and were 1-5 as of press time. Things aren’t getting much easier, either, as they were set to host the tough Vikings Wednesday night; after a shot at winless Franklin next week, they’ll face Farmington and Colebrook — both still undefeated — in succession.
The Warriors are getting good play from McKenna Crouse, Cailin Swett, Maddy Labrecque and Dani Stratton, among others, despite the record.