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# Conant girls basketball remained calm and collected despite chaos of a championship game
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/conant-girls-basketball-remained-calm-collected-despite-chaos-championship-game/
- Published: 2018-03-06T13:00:54.000Z
- Updated: 2018-03-06T13:00:54.000Z
- Description: It certainly wasn't the way Camri Aho wanted to start the Division III girls basketball championship game. But when the Conant High School junior watched her first 3-point attempt Saturday miss everything and land out of bounds, she just shook her head, cracked a smile and ran back on defense. Aho'
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division III-IV, championship, Conant, Division III, girls basketball, Hopkinton, NH High School Sports Insider, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

It certainly wasn't the way Camri Aho wanted to start the Division III girls basketball championship game.

But when the Conant High School junior watched her first 3-point attempt Saturday miss everything and land out of bounds, she just shook her head, cracked a smile and ran back on defense.

Aho's miss got a jeer from the Hopkinton student section, but in a couple of ways, it set the tone for the remainder of what turned into a 36-30 victory by the fifth-seeded Orioles (18-4).

"I know I can shoot, so I had to have the confidence," Aho said of her reaction. "It was just in my head. The crowd was getting to me a little bit and I knew I had the shot. They were letting me shoot, so I just had to have confidence and step into it."

Conant's loose nature on the court helped the team settle in after a rocky first quarter that saw everyone by Mariah Chamberlain go scoreless.

And with No. 6 Hopkinton (17-5) giving Aho plenty of room to shoot, she took advantage in the second half, hitting a couple of key jumpers early in the third quarter and adding a 3 to start the scoring in the fourth that gave the Orioles the lead for good.

"She’s a fearless kid and she’s a little underrated," Conant coach Brian Troy said of Aho. "She does so many big things, not only shooting, but rebounding-wise. She’s such a big help for us. She has that fearless confidence about her.

"That (3-pointer) was a huge shot. I think (the Hawks) were starting to figure out our zone a little bit and that 3 just kind of put them to bed a little bit."

With Hopkinton adjusting its defense after Chamberlain was able to find success in the post, and with freshman Elizabeth Gonyea unable to find much success scoring from the field - she scored 10 of her 12 points at the free throw line - Aho knew someone else had to be a third scoring option for Conant.

"I knew I had to step up and help our team out," she said. "Usually we’re more high-scoring, but that’s a good team and this was a good matchup. I had to help out."

Although Hopkinton was the more senior-laden team, Conant, despite having just one senior on the roster, was the team that came in with the experience in a title game. The Orioles dropped last year's final to rival Monadnock, who they had defeated in the semifinals.

With that matchup out of the way, and against a team that had beaten Conant twice during the regular season, the young Orioles were able to play with a relaxed demeanor. It was obvious in the way Aho didn't hesitate on her fourth-quarter 3 and in the way Gonyea iced the game by hitting three of four free throws in the final 25 seconds.

"They’re a loose group and they have been all year," Troy said. "I’m not going to force them to be something they’re not. That’s who we are. They got it done and it obviously worked for them."