The ConVal girls’ basketball team needed a win Tuesday night to propel them into the playoffs, and they got one, running all over Bishop Brady in a 56-42 Cougar victory that clinched them at least the final Division II playoff berth.
“We were boxing out, getting a lot of good rebounds, and we were pushing it up the court in transition,” said senior center Mairin Burgess, who finished with an astounding 19 rebounds. “That was huge for us. We definitely outran that team and it really showed on the scoreboard.”
Tom Brady may have officially retired from football earlier in the day, but it was bombs away for ConVal point guard Morgan Bemont, who initiated the Cougar offense by throwing a slew of fullcourt football passes over the Giant defense and into her streaking receivers’ hands.
“We knew that this was a team where we would want to push it fullcourt,” Burgess said. “We wanted to throw those long balls, and it ended up working out.”
Bemont, who is playing at an All-State level this winter, finished with a triple-double: a team-high 16 points along with 13 rebounds and 10 assists; Abby Rodenhiser, Maddy Faber and Burgess scored 12 apiece. Payton Bryson had a game-high 17 for the Giants.
ConVal (7-9) has two games remaining, and can’t finish worse than the 14th and final playoff spot. They’re currently 12th in Division II and can make up some ground against rival Souhegan Thursday night and at home against Lebanon for senior night Friday.
“Souhegan is definitely a team favorite,” Burgess said, “so that’s very exciting. And Leb is senior night, so we want to go out there and play hard, definitely. We’re looking to win, we’re looking to play hard and keep it up for the rest of the season going into the playoffs.”
BOYS’ BASKETBALLConant 40, Mascenic 27
When two defensive-minded teams get together in one gym, you can expect a low-scoring affair. And when that gym is the Pratt Auditorium, that defense ratchets up another notch.
Conant and Mascenic combined for just nine points in the first quarter of Monday’s night rivalry game in Jaffrey, but once Manny Hodgson and senior captain Jacson Cross got rolling, so did the Oriole offense, and Conant pulled away for a 40-27 win.
Conant’s losses earlier in the season were often the result of an unwillingness to pull the trigger on open shots, but after that low-scoring first quarter, that was hardly the case Monday.
“We just made sure that we ran through our plays,” Cross said. “We sprinted to our open spots and then caught the ball – if we’re open, just shoot with confidence. We told everybody that if you get the ball and you’re open, just shoot. If we’re open, we’ve got to shoot it. So there’s confidence right there.”
Conant is averaging just over 30 points per game; that threshold makes hitting two or three three-pointers in a row into a game-changing streak, and the Orioles were able to do that a couple times Monday. Hodgson (eight points) hit a pair back-to-back in the second quarter, and Cross added a pair of his own and continued his hot shooting throughout the game, finishing with a game-high 16.
Senior Malique Motuzas added seven points, grabbed seven boards and provided a spark by taking two charges.
The Vikings, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going against the Conant defense; Mascenic’s high-point scorer was Dylan Barthel, who only hit one shot on his way to seven points. Aside from Joe Cocozella (12.6 ppg), Mascenic has been unable to consistently get to the basket and score this winter, and they still have a long way to go if they hope to make any postseason headway.
Mascenic (6-7) was scheduled to play at Monadnock Wednesday and then at Mascoma Valley Friday.
Conant (6-7) was scheduled to play at Hillsboro-Deering Wednesday and then at Hopkinton Friday in a rematch of last year’s playoff game and this season’s double-overtime Hawks win.
“It’s an away game, so they’re going to be pretty comfortable and confident,” Cross said. “So, we’ve just got to make sure that we don’t let it intimidate us and we just keep doing what we’re supposed to do and play hard and tire them out – and that’ll be a good game.”
Bishop Brady 95, ConVal 84
Fresh off Friday night’s big win over Pelham, ConVal ran into a shocker on the road Tuesday at Bishop Brady, where the Green Giants’ pair of dynamic scorers put on a show in the highest-scoring game across all divisions thus far this season.
Brady’s Gumee Mbata scored a game-high 33 points and Ivan Yen added 25.
“They shot the lights out,” said ConVal coach Jay Starr after the game. “We really didn’t play bad, they just hit everything.”
Owen Michaels (20 points), Joe Gutwein (18), Malachi Page (16) and Austin Knight (11) got into double figures for ConVal.
The loss puts ConVal (14-3) in a less favorable playoff position than they’d hoped. With just one game to go, ConVal is currently fourth in Division II, with Souhegan (15-1), Lebanon (15-1) and Pelham (13-2) ahead of them.
ConVal is scheduled to play Lebanon Friday night, but incoming winter weather may postpone it to the weekend.
GIRLS’ BASKETBALLConant 65, Mascenic 34
The Vikings put up a good fight against the Orioles in their game Tuesday night, but couldn’t overcome the scoring attack of Division III scoring leader Emma Tenters and former Boynton Bulldog Brynn Rautiola. Rautiola had a game-high 21 points and Tenters added 20 in the win. Kenzie Cormer scored a team-high 12 for Mascenic and Hannah Zina had nine.
Conant (13-0) was scheduled to host Hillsboro-Deering Wednesday after press time and hos t Hopkinton Friday.