Long before Brynn Rautiola ever donned an orange-and-black jersey, before her championship wins and personal victories as a Conant Oriole – in fact, long before she even lived in the Jaffrey-Rindge school district – she idolized Conant girls’ basketball star Maddy Springfield. Rautiola attended the Springfield family’s summer basketball camps, where the two formed a bond, and as Springfield won a state title at Conant, scored 1,000 career points and went on to play at Holy Cross and Bentley, Rautiola was watching all the way.

“I literally just watched her, and I just wanted to be exactly like her,” Rautiola said. “She inspired me to keep playing.”

As luck would have it, Rautiola’s family moved from New Ipswich to Rindge before her freshman year, and the one-time Boynton Bulldog became a Conant Oriole, where she followed the path blazed by Springfield. Rautiola snagged one state title and then another; her Orioles set the program’s longest winning streak, a record previously held by Springfield’s team; and on Wednesday night, Rautiola earned one more big win, scoring her 1,000th career point in a blowout win over Belmont at home, with Springfield watching from the stands.

“I remember her when she was coming to Pure Shot camps, playing in middle school, and now I see her out there and she’s grown so much as a player and so much as a leader,” Springfield said. “Seeing her as a senior and leading this team, it’s just really awesome to see the Conant tradition carrying on. It’s really great to see, and all her hard work is paying off.”

After the Orioles lost their first game of the season at Concord Christian Monday, smart money had Conant taking a little of that frustration out on their next opponent, and both Rautiola and the Orioles were locked in Wednesday night. Conant scored the first 22 points of the game as Rautiola got on the board by stealing the ball in the Oriole backcourt, driving for a layup, stealing the inbounds pass and drawing a foul, setting the tone for a focused Conant win.

She needed 16 points to hit her mark, and midway through the second quarter, fellow senior co-captain and 1,ooo-point scorer Emma Tenters raced up on a fast break and dished the ball to Rautiola, who laid it in for 1,000 and sparked a celebration.

“It’s great, but it feels even better with the people and coaches around me,” Rautiola said after the game. “I couldn’t do it without them. They mean everything to me, and I’m just so blessed to be at this school.”

Rautiola joined Tenters in the 1,000-point club; it’s rare for teammates, especially in the same grade, to both hit the milestone, which speaks to the success the pair has had under coach Brian Troy.

“Brynnie’s just a warrior,” Troy said. “She’s always in the gym. She’s a gym rat. She works out so hard. She’s always team-first. You never have to worry about her dedication to the team or anything like that. She puts her ego aside so others can shine too. Between her and Emma, they’re just a two-headed monster. I’ve always said I think she’s probably one of the best guards in the state. Just the way she can manage the game, her shooting ability has come such a long way, and she’s just a special player. I’m really proud of her to hit that 1,000 points.”

Rautiola finished with a game-high 24 points as Conant rolled to an easy 58-19 victory. After the game, she kept serving her teammates, slicing up her own celebratory cake like she’d slashed through the Belmont defense, and reconnected with her childhood role model, Springfield, who was impressed with how her protege had grown.

“[It’s] her work ethic and her selflessness,” Springfield said. “From when I watched her play when she was really little, she’s always been really selfless and putting the team ahead of herself – that’s really helped her get to where she is.”

The Orioles would go on to beat Kearsarge 54-29 on Friday to finish the regular season at 17-1, tied for first place in Division III with Concord Christian (17-1); the two teams each defended their home courts with wins against one another and seem destined to meet a third time at a neutral site.

“We have a really good group of girls,” Troy said. “I feel like we’re selfless right now, and we just all have one goal in mind. We’re ready to keep taking this thing further.”

Conant earned the No. 1 seed in Division III, which comes with a first-round bye and a quarterfinal home game on Saturday evening against the winner of No. 8 Kearsarge and No. 9 Gilford. 

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Derryfield 45, ConVal 44

ConVal lost a close one at Derryfield Wednesday night.

“We played with a lot of grit and intensity, but came up a little short,” ConVal head coach Kyle Murray said.

Morgan Bemont and Eva Lopez led the way, each scoring 11, with Emma Jonsson right behind with 10. Savannah McCarthy rebounded the ball well and added eight points, Murray said.

ConVal (4-9) is at Kingswood Tuesday and then hosts Souhegan for the first half of the Claws For a Cause doubleheader which will benefit Break The Silence Wednesday at 5 p.m.

WLC 35, Pittsfield 18

Wilton-Lyndeborough rebounded well at Pittsfield last week and nearly doubled up the Panthers for the win.

“Defense looked good,” WLC coach Tom Crowley said. “Off shooting night, but we had control of the boards.”

WLC (9-8) finishes the regular season with a game at Mount Royal Tuesday.

Mascenic 47, Sunapee 45 (OT)

An Ella Pearson floater with two seconds left in overtime gave the Vikings a nice win at Sunapee last week. 

Mascenic (5-11) was set to finish up the regular season against Holy Family on Monday after press time. 

INDOOR TRACK

Mascenic, Conant and ConVal competed in the indoor track and field state championship meet at Dartmouth College on Sunday, Feb. 12.

Conant’s Ben Sawyer won the long jump with a leap of 21 feet; he also took sixth in high jump. Kylie Aho was seventh in the 600m run (1:50.67). Amelia Hill was fifth in the 1,500m run (5:27.80). The girls’ 4x400m relay team took 11th and the girls’ 4x800m relay team was sixth. Jacob Sawyer was 11th in the 600m run. Nathan Alajajian was eighth in the 3,ooom run. Kaden Colby was fourth in the 55m hurdles (9.12). The boys’ 4x400m relay team was sixth and the boys’ 4x800m relay team was eighth. 

ConVal junior Tasha MacNeil advanced to the finals in both the shot put and the 55-meter dash. She finished third in the shot put with a throw of 29-feet, 7.75-inches. She finished sixth in the 55-meter dash with a personal-best time of 7.64 seconds.

ConVal junior Jamie Post advanced to the finals of the 55-meter hurdles by recording a personal-best time of 9.36 seconds in the preliminary race. He finished eighth in the finals.

ConVal sophomore William Simard finished eighth in the 1500-meter run in 4:28.98, and sophomore Maxx Telofski finished eleventh in the shot put with a throw of 35-feet, 3.25-inches.

Simard and Telofski were each one of only two sophomores in their respective events to qualify to compete in the state championship meet.

For Mascenic, Kaitlin O’Shea was third in the 1,000m run (3:26.16). Emma Schaumloffel was seventh in the 1,500m run (5:41.08) and fifth in the 3,000m run (12:00.17). Erin O’Shea was eighth in the 1,500m run (5:43.44). Amelia Smith was 11th in the 1,500m run (5:51.77). The girls’ 4x400m relay took 10th, and the 4x800m relay team of Mackenzie Vallaincourt, both O’Sheas and Brielle Shippee took fourth in 11:13.54. 

GIRLS’ ICE HOCKEY

ConVal-Conant 10, Kingswood 1

Captains Aubrey Niemela, Makennah McPherson and Addie Lustenberger each scored a hat trick in the Griffins’ big road win over Kingswood Saturday evening.

Eliza Malla added another goal, and Sophia Spingola (two), Chloe Ward, McPherson, Niemela (two), Rylee Herr and Hannah Leahigh had assists.

Olivia Riley had the win in net.

ConVal-Conant (3-9) is at Bedford Thursday, St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday and hosts Kingswood for senior night next Tuesday, Feb. 21.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

ConVal 74, Hollis-Brookline 33

Ethan Kinney scored a game-high 18 against H-B Thursday, while Joe Gutwein put in 16 and Ollie Theriault added 10. 

ConVal 71, Kingswood 67 (2OT)

Joe Gutwein had 18, Ethan Kinney 16 and Noah Stewart 13 as ConVal closed out a double-overtime win against Kingswood on senior night Friday.  

The Cougars (10-4) were set to play at Plymouth Monday night and host Souhegan Wednesday. 

Conant 42, Kearsarge 32

The Orioles finished the season with a win Thursday night and are at 12-6 on the year heading into the postseason, which starts Tuesday night. Conant is the No. 8 seed and hosts No. 9 Belmont Tuesday. Conant won at Belmont 48-32 in late January. 

Mascenic on a hot streak

The Vikings are on a tear as of late, winning eight of their last nine with the only blemish a two-point loss to Division IV-leading Concord Christian. Mascenic beat Sunapee, Wilton-Lyndeborough and Epping last week to improve to 11-5 going into Monday night’s season finale against Holy Family (11-4). 

WLC will miss playoffs

The Warriors won’t make the Division IV playoffs this year, as they are just 1-16 heading into Tuesday’s season finale against Mount Royal. 

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