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# Conant girls basketball hangs on to beat Hopkinton in D3 championship game
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/conant-girls-basketball-hangs-beat-hopkinton-d3-championship-game/
- Published: 2018-03-04T13:00:52.000Z
- Updated: 2018-03-04T13:00:52.000Z
- Description: MANCHESTER – Going into Saturday’s Division III championship game, the Conant High School girls basketball team knew it was going to have to do things differently to beat Hopkinton. After two losses to the Hawks during the regular season, the third chance for the Orioles came at the perfect time. No
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division III-IV, Conant, Division III, girls basketball, Hopkinton, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

MANCHESTER – Going into Saturday’s Division III championship game, the Conant High School girls basketball team knew it was going to have to do things differently to beat Hopkinton.

After two losses to the Hawks during the regular season, the third chance for the Orioles came at the perfect time.

No. 5 Conant frustrated No. 6 Hopkinton with a zone defense, battled the Hawks to a draw on the boards and got some stellar free throw shooting from a freshman to grab a 36-30 win in the title game at Southern New Hampshire University. The title was the second in four years for the Orioles, who lost to Monadnock in last year’s final.

Mariah Chamberlain had a game-high 13 points and freshman Elizabeth Gonyea added 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Conant (18-4). Camri Aho added nine points, including a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that gave the Orioles the lead for good.

“We knew we could stay with them,” Conant coach Brian Troy said. “We knew if we played our best game, that if we played our A-game, and we brought it and were victorious. Settle down a little bit. We definitely played a lot more zone than we did the first two times. We tried to matchup a little bit and it didn’t work the first two times.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jmd3gbballfinal030318-h10c30-wm.jpg)

Hopkinton's Amelia Thomas tries to block a shot by Conant's Mariah Chamberlain.

Hopkinton (17-5) struggled against the zone, shooting 28.2 percent from the field, including just 2 of 11 in the fourth quarter. And after outrebounding Gilford by 17 in the semifinals, the Hawks were even with Conant at 30 rebounds apiece and just seven second-chance points.

“I think we were a little tighter than we’d been in the tournament, but you’ve got to give it Conant,” Hopkinton coach Pat Roye said. “I thought we were ready, I thought we were loose, I thought the kids were pumped. We knew this would be a close, down-to-the-wire kind of game. Brian does a great job and even though we had beaten them (twice) in the regular season, over the last month, Conant has steadily improved.”

Amelia Thomas and Abby Houston (six rebounds) each had seven points to lead Hopkinton and Taylor Signor had five, all in the second half.

Houston drew the assignment of guarding Gonyea, and while she was just 1 of 7 from the field, she found ways to get to the free throw line, going 10 of 12, including 3 for 4 in the final 25 seconds.

“I’ve been working on my free throws all season,” Gonyea said. “I stayed after practices, shooting free throws. They haven’t been the best all season and they finally showed up.

“(Houston) is a great rebounder and a great athlete, so I just knew if she was on my side I had to box her out to get the rebound. She’s taller than me and she can jump. I had to put my body on her.”

It was all Chamberlain in the first quarter for the Orioles, as she was 3 for 3 from the field, and the rest of the team went 0 for 5\. But Conant trailed 8-6 heading into the second until one free throw from Chamberlain and a putback by Gonyea gave the Orioles a 9-8 lead.

Hopkinton went scoreless for the first four-plus minutes of the second while Conant scored seven straight points to take a 13-8 lead. The Hawks finally broke through on a jumper by Ellie Owen, but Hopkinton shot just 4 of 22 from the field in the first half, including 2 of 13 in the second.

Conant led 15-12 at the break and pushed the lead to five points a couple of times early in the third quarter, the latest on a jumper by Aho that made it 23-18 with 5:06 left in the frame.

But Hopkinton started to figure things out on offense, with Thomas scoring five straight points on a basket and a three-point play to tie it at 23\. After two free throws by Gonyea gave the Orioles the lead back, Signor hit a 3-pointer that gave the Hawks a 26-25 lead going into the fourth.

Both teams had a couple of empty possessions early in the fourth until Aho’s 3-pointer with 5:31 left in the game gave Conant a 28-26 lead.

“That was a huge shot,” Troy said. “I think they were starting to figure out our zone a little bit and that 3 just kind of put them to bed a little bit.”

Hopkinton eventually tied it on a jumper by Houston, but the Orioles scored the next five points, going up 33-28 on a basket by Chamberlain. A basket by Owen made it a three-point game and the Hawks had a chance to tie twice but struggled to find an open shot.

“We were a little hesitant to attack at times,” Roye said. “I think the stage got to us a little bit.”

At the other end, Gonyea settled in at the line and put the game out of reach for Conant.

“You think she’s a junior or a senior,” Troy said. “She just persevered. She is so competitive, day in and day out, she just brought this team to another level.”