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# Conant girls basketball beats Monadnock to return to D3 final
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/conant-girls-basketball-beats-monadnock-return-d3-final/
- Published: 2018-03-01T14:17:38.000Z
- Updated: 2018-03-01T14:17:38.000Z
- Description: MANCHESTER - The Conant High School girls basketball team was giving up easy baskets to Monadnock in the first quarter of Wednesday night's Division III semifinal. Orioles coach Brian Troy needed to find a way to not only slow the Huskies down, but get Conant's offense going again. Troy did what not
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division III-IV, Conant, Division III, girls basketball, Monadnock, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

MANCHESTER - The Conant High School girls basketball team was giving up easy baskets to Monadnock in the first quarter of Wednesday night's Division III semifinal.

Orioles coach Brian Troy needed to find a way to not only slow the Huskies down, but get Conant's offense going again. Troy did what not many coaches would do on that stage - he turned to a freshman, and Elizabeth Gonyea delivered.

The Conant freshman scored a game-high 19 points and helped slow down top-seeded Monadnock's offense over the final three quarters to help lead the No. 5 Orioles to a 38-34 victory at Southern New Hampshire University. The win sends Conant to the final for the second year in a row, and third time in four years, where it will face No. 6 Hopkinton at 4 p.m. Saturday.

After giving up 17 points in the first quarter, Conant (17-4) allowed just 17 the rest of the way, including three in the second and fourth quarters. The Huskies (17-3) shot 75 percent from the field in the first eight minutes, but were just 6 of 31 the rest of the way.

"Monadnock couldn’t miss a shot," Troy said. "We knew that coming back we could make some adjustments and we’d be right back in the game. I put one of my best defenders (Gonyea) on (Monadnock's Caitlyn) Boucher.

"She had no fouls so we put her right in there, and she executed well, gave them fits. There were a little bit of nerves at first and I said once you settle in, get a little bit of rhythm, you’ll be fine. Once she started to attack, get shots that she normally gets, she took over at the end there."

Mariah Chamberlain added nine points for Conant and Taylor Banish and Silas Bernier each had five.

Monadnock got 12 points and eight rebounds from Jennifer Rowan while Gwen Simpson had all nine of her points in the first quarter and also grabbed six rebounds. Boucher didn't score, but finished with seven assists and three steals.

The Orioles got out to an early 7-3 lead, but Monadnock responded with a 15-3 run, going up 18-8 on a free throw by Rowan to open the second quarter. But Conant's defense stepped up after that, holding the Huskies scoreless for more than six minutes as the Orioles cut the lead down to one.

"Simpson was hot, Boucher was getting to the paint a little too easily, so we tried to adjust the defense, swallow them up a little bit," Troy said. "They executed well, they got rebounds when they needed to."

The teams traded baskets heading into halftime, giving Monadnock a 20-19 lead at the break, and a putback by Baylee Smith and a basket by Bri Broderick gave the Huskies a 24-19 lead early in the third.

But Gonyea answered with a 3 at the other end, and after a 3 by Broderick, the freshman scored back-to-back baskets to against get Conant within one.

And then turnovers started to plague the Huskies, as they gave up the ball on four of the next five possessions, and the Orioles took advantage. Monadnock turned the ball over 12 times in the second half and Conant scored 11 points off those miscues.

Despite the turnovers by Monadnock, and what ended up being a 14-5 run by the Orioles in the third quarter, the lead never got to more than four points for Conant the rest of the way.

"It felt tight the whole way," Troy said. "Every basket, every rebound, every turnover mattered, and we just happened to make a couple more plays than they did at the end."

A layup by Chamberlain made it 38-34 with 2:04 left in the game, and with four fouls left to give, Monadnock spent most of the final minute fouling to try to get Conant to the free throw line. By the time the Huskies did, it was too late.