All seven of the local public high school teams were in action this week, as the ConVal girls’ and boys’ teams finally joined Wilton-Lyndeborough, Conant and ConVal in the NHIAA fray.
BOYS’ BASKETBALLMascenic 61, Hinsdale 38
After a chippy start to their Saturday afternoon game with Hinsdale, the Division III co-champion Vikings let the scoreboard do their talking for them and improved to 6-0 on the year with a runaway win.
Mascenic had four players in double figures, as Gabe Turner and Blaine Krook scored 12 each and Shea Zina and Wyatt Duval added 10 each.
Mascenic is at Conant Tuesday.
Mascenic 47, Hinsdale 34
Seniors Gabe Turner and Shea Zina had 11 apiece as Mascenic stayed undefeated by beating Hinsdale Wednesday night.
ConVal 62, Souhegan 45
The Division II defending co-champion Cougars won their home opener in front of a crowd of zero Friday night as nine ConVal players scored in their win over Souhegan. Austin Knight scored a team-high 14; Owen Michaels and Joe Gutwein scored 11 each and Wyatt Davis had 10.
ConVal (3-0) is at Pelham Monday at 6 p.m.
Keene 57, Conant 39
Division I Keene came to the Pratt and knocked off Conant Wednesday evening to give the Orioles their second loss of the season.
Colson Seppala scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Conant in both categories; no other Oriole reached double figures. Hayden Ketola had seven points and six rebounds and Garrett Somero had eight points and six rebounds.
Conant (5-2) hosts Mascenic Tuesday.
Monadnock 62, Wilton-Lyndeborough 24
The winless Warriors are still a work in progress, but head coach Wiley Billings said they’re on the right track after Friday’s blowout loss to Division III Monadnock.
Billings said he’s working with point guard Kyler Tremblay to take on more of the scoring load while continuing to distribute to his teammates. Tremblay had a team-high 11 points against Monadnock and Paul VanBlarigan added six.
The Warriors should be able to play competitively in their pair of games with the only Division IV team on their schedule, Hinsdale, on Tuesday and Friday, though WLC is likely to be without the services of injured big man JJ Leblanc.
GIRLS’ BASKETBALLSouhegan 45, ConVal 38
The Cougars lost their season opener on the road Friday night, but ConVal head coach Kevin Proctor took the seven-point deficit as a good omen; after all, the Cougars are fielding just a seven-girl team this winter and had just seven practices before Friday’s game.
“The bench is a little lonely these days, but these girls are not making excuses,” Proctor said.
Point guard Morgan Bemont had eight points, 12 rebounds and five assists and did a great job distributing the ball, Proctor said; Maddy Faber had 10 rebounds and nine points, and Julia Donovan had eight points.
ConVal (o-1) hosts Pelham Monday.
“Pelham will be a great challenge,” Proctor said. “Very deep and fast.”
Conant 71, Keene 50
The Orioles pulled off a rare feat with their win over Division I Keene on Wednesday; with the win, Conant now has a victory over a team from each of the four NHIAA divisions this season.
Elizabeth Gonyea had a team-high 23 points for Conant; Emma Tenters added 15 and Brynn Rautiola scored 12.
Conant 54, Keene 37
The Orioles took another victory in their home rematch with Keene Saturday, using a balanced scoring attack that featured four Conant players in double figures.
Conant did their work inside, as they uncharacteristically hit just one three-pointer in the win.
“Credit Keene, they really battled and played tough tonight,” head coach Brian Troy said. “They were able to keep the game close and put the pressure on us.”
Brynn Rautiola had 13 points; Elizabeth Gonyea had 11, and Teagan Kirby and Mylie Aho had 10 each.
Conant (7-0) has won 28 straight games and plays at Mascenic Tuesday.
Hinsdale 57, Mascenic 31
Delaney Wilcox went off for the Pacers as Hinsdale beat Mascenic in New Ipswich Thursday night. Wilcox led all scorers with 25 points.
Mascenic’s top scorer was Kenzie Cormier, with eight points; Hannah Zina had seven.
Mascenic is winless on the year and faces Conant twice next week, starting with a home game Tuesday.