KEENE – The set up for the Division III girls’ basketball final couldn’t have been written any better. A battle between the two top seeds – Concord Christian Academy and Conant High School – whose only losses all year came against each. The D-III perennial powerhouse vs. the D-III newcomer. A veteran team with two 1,000-point scorers and First Team All-State players vs. an underclassmen team looking to make a name for itself.

In the end the No. 2 Concord Christian Kingsmen played to their strengths while countering Conant’s size advantage as CCA won the championship in its inaugural D-III season with a 49-35 victory over the No. 1 Orioles on Saturday night at Keene State College’s Spaulding Gymnasium.

Concord Christian – the defending D-IV champs – led wire-to-wire, save for a brief 14-14 tie midway through the second quarter, playing its usual uptempo, fast paced, aggressive style. The Kingsmen did everything they usually do, shoot well from the perimeter, move the ball exceptionally well and press their opponents.

What CCA is not known for, is its size and play along the boards, but that’s exactly what made the difference. Concord Christian outrebounded Conant, 41-19, including a 23-4 advantage in offensive boards, and outscored the Orioles in the paint, 20-6.

Freshman guard Emma Smith had 15 rebounds, 10 off the offensive glass, 10 points and two steals, while sophomore guard Lilli Carlile (13 points, six rebounds, two steals) was CCA’s leading scorer. Junior guard Megan Muir (12 points, two steals) was sharp from long range, shooting 4-for-7 beyond the arc.

Senior guard Brynn Rautiola did everything she could to keep Conant in the game, scoring a game-high 21 points, while junior guard Bella Hart (six points, two assists) connected on a pair of 3s.

Senior forward Emma Tenters, the other aforementioned 1,000 point scorer and First Team player along with Rautiola, was held to a single point, five rebounds and two assists all game, collecting just one rebound in the first half.

“That was huge for us,” Concord Christian head coach Rebecca Carlile said. “All of the girls, we told at the beginning of the game ‘We’ve got to give (Conant) one chance and crash. I don’t even care if we don’t get everybody back (on defense). That was one of our goals in the pregame, pulling (Tenters) out (of the paint). She’s an amazing player. I voted for her for (Division III) Player of the Year. I’m so proud of (my team). The way they rotated, they doubled down every time (Tenters) got the ball, unless they were guarding Brynn.”

“We talked about that at halftime too,” assistant coach and CCA athletic director Carrie Smith added. “About making sure we make contact and get a body on somebody. Their girls are much taller than us, so that’s something we emphasized. We don’t give them second chances and everybody crashes offensively.”

The pregame introductions indicated a very pro-Conant crowd – hardly a surprise give Conant High School’s proximity to Keene and the difference in sizes between the schools – but it was CCA that jumped out to an early 8-0 lead before Orioles head coach Brian Troy called a timeout with 5:40 still on the clock in the first quarter.

“We’re not used to large crowds so we just have to create our own energy and be intense the whole time,” Emma Smith said. “We know that since we’re from a (lower) division, people don’t want us to keep winning, so we have to (keep working).”

A big 3 from Conant sophomore guard Hannah Manley (four rebounds) helped cut Concord Christian’s lead to 12-8 after the first quarter and 4-for-6 3-point shooting from the Orioles in the second quarter (two each from Hart and Rautiola) held the Kingsmen to a 25-20 lead at halftime.

But Megan Muir connected three times from long range in the third quarter, freshman point guard Kayden Rioux (four rebounds, steal) had another 3, fellow freshman point guard Sarah Muir (eight points, three assists, two steals) turned a steal into a fastbreak opportunity and an easy layup, and junior guard Taylor Rioux (two rebounds, steal) had some key boards to extend CCA’s lead to 41-28 heading into the final frame.

Conant couldn’t close the gap to anything less than 11 points over the final eight minutes.

“(Concord Christian is) a great team,” Troy said. “That’s what happens. Eventually you get to the finals and you’re going to have to run into a team like that. They played top-notch today. It doesn’t take away from what we were able to do, I’m proud of the girls, regardless of the scoreboard. (CCA’s) ball movement is really good and they put us in a lot of vulnerable positions. I thought we did a good job with our initial defense, getting out on their shooters and making them take contested shots, but we weren’t able to be tough enough on the boards tonight.”

As impressive as the actual game was the mental preparation Concord Christian had to do after winning a hard-fought semifinal over No. 3 Stevens just 24 hours prior to the championship game. Conant dealt with the same challenge, but CCA has a much shorter bench (seven players on the roster compared to 12 for Conant), two juniors and no seniors.

Conant’s roster includes nine juniors and seniors, and has a combined record of 77-3 over the past four seasons, a stretch that includes D-III titles in 2020 and 2021. Besides the two losses to Concord Christian, the only other loss came against Monadnock in last year’s championship.

“We’re a small team, everyone expects to beat us with their numbers and their size,” Megan Muir said. “We work really hard and we play so hard together as a team. Our togetherness helps us, we lift each other up. We push the ball and cheer each other on. We work on shooting and we work on boxing out. This was the big stage, the big moment. We gave it our all and that’s what helped us win.”

A D-IV school by enrollment and D-III champions by conquest, it’s unclear where Concord Christian will play in the future, but it certainly won’t be moving back down anytime soon. Derryfield, the team CCA beat in last year’s D-IV final, is in D-II this year and there’s a case to be made that the Kingsmen could belong there too.

But watching Concord Christian play this season has made one thing clear – if CCA plays its style with this level of team chemistry, the Kingsmen can beat anyone.

“They’re competitors,” coach Smith said of her players. “We want to compete, so we’re going to compete wherever they put us.”

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