Above the Rim: Conant, Gilford girls basketball charting same course

It was the rarest of matchups, an championship game featuring two undefeated teams, in a sport that lends itself to plenty of upsets.

Both the Conant and Gilford high school girls basketball teams entered last year's Division III title game with 21-0 records, and the Orioles took the title by beating the Golden Eagles 55-33.

Could it happen again? Entering February, both teams are again undefeated, sitting atop D3 with identical 13-0 records.

Both teams have had a handful of close games. Conant has two wins over Pelham by just a combined 11 points, while Fall Mountain came within two points of the Orioles in the teams' second matchup. Gilford beat Bow by a point on Jan. 15 and beat Belmont by seven last week, along with an 11-point win over Laconia.

Those games aside, the two teams have won the majority of their games by a comfortable margin. While it isn't out of the realm of possibility that there could be another matchup of unbeaten teams in the title game, odds are against it.

Conant has the easier remaining schedule. The Orioles play first of two games against Monadnock (8-4) on Tuesday, and then have a week off before playing at ConVal (0-9) on Feb. 9. That's followed by a home game against Mascenic (1-11) on Feb. 11 and a road game against Monadnock on Feb. 16 before finishing out the regular season at home against Raymond (2-10) on Feb. 18.

Gilford plays two games this week it should in, facing Franklin (4-8) on Tuesday and heading to Berlin (6-6) on Friday. But then the Golden Eagles finish with three potentially tough games - at Laconia (10-2) on Feb. 10, vs. Somersworth (11-1) on Feb. 12, and at Newfound (11-1) on Feb. 16.

And of course, both teams would have to survive the three playoff games leading up to the D3 girls championship game, scheduled for March 5.

At the top

For the first time this season, there was a new No. 1 team in the girls basketball state rankings - Sunapee, which is 12-0 in Division IV, and took the top spot from Pinkerton.

How does a school with an enrollment 20 times smaller than another get to the top of the rankings? By beating everyone in its path, no matter how good the opponent is.

Sunapee's perfect record has been achieved against the top teams in D4, along with two wins over Newport, a seven-win team in D3. The Lakers have wins over six of the other nine teams ranked in the top 10 in D4, and none of them have been close.

This year, Sunapee has won by an average margin 39.3 points, and its closest game was an 18-point win over Littleton, which is currently the second-place team in the division.

Does that mean the Lakers, who have won 34 games in a row, are guaranteed of winning a second-straight title? No, but no team this season has been as dominant, and that's typically a good indication of a title-bound team.