Girls’ basketball: Concord Christian falls to Conant in battle of unbeatens

By DAN ATTORRI

Monitor staff

Published: 01-06-2023 12:10 AM

Concord Christian’s undefeated streak in Division III wasn’t going to last forever, but it took the division’s top program to finally take down the Lady Kingsmen.

Concord Christian Academy (5-1) made the Conant Orioles (6-0) fight to the last second, but Conant came out on top with a 59-58 victory in Jaffrey on Thursday night.

The Lady Kingsmen kept it close early, trailing 10-9 at the end of the first quarter, but the Orioles went 6-for-8 from 3-point range in the second quarter to take a 33-18 halftime lead.

CCA closed the gap a little in the third quarter (44-33) and opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to help cut Conant’s lead to 55-48 with 2:39 to play. 

Freshman Emma Smith connected on four 3-pointers over the final eight minutes, scoring 17 of her team-high 23 points in the fourth quarter as CCA continued to chip away at the Orioles’ lead, but Conant’s Brynn Rautiola (game-high 27 points) connected on some clutch free throws down the stretch to hold off the comeback.

Sarah Muir (12 points), Kate Smith (eight points) and Lilli Carlile (eight points) were the other top scorers for the Lady Kingsmen, while Emma Tenters scored 23 for Conant.

While the undefeated streak ends at five games, it’s nonetheless been a very impressive start for Concord Christian in its inaugural D-III season. CCA won its first five games by an average of 46 points and hadn’t allowed more than 30 points in a single game entering Thursday night’s contest.

The Lady Kingsmen were coming off big wins against Newfound (D-III semifinalist last year) and Monadnock (defending D-III champions) heading into Thursday night’s game against Conant – a program that has appeared in six of the last eight D-III championship games and finished runner-up last year.

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Concord Christian next plays against Campbell (3-4) at home on Tuesday.

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