By DAN BARILE
Eagle Times Correspondent
JAFFREY, N.H. — After dominating a short-handed Conant squad by 43 points on Monday, Fall Mountain faced a more competitive clash the following night, with leading scorer Hannah Manley returning to the lineup for the Orioles.
While Manley was held to a relatively modest 10 points, she helped ignite the Orioles while engineering the offense from the point guard position.
Despite Manley’s impact, Fall Mountain found a way to win for the 14th time in 15 tries, outscoring Conant 52-46 on Tuesday in Jaffrey.
The first half was tight the entire way, with the lead never growing to more than three points for either team. Fall Mountain’s Clara Stewart registered 11 points during the half, but it was Conant who took a 26-25 edge into the break.
Fall Mountain was able to create a cushion for itself during the third quarter, led by a seven-point period from Riley Beckwith. Conant struggled to find an answer for Beckwith around the basket, allowing Fall Mountain to enter the final frame with a 39-33 advantage.
Fall Mountain continued to hold a multi-score lead until Manley drained a shot from beyond the arc with 3:00 remaining. With the lead reduced to three points, the Wildcats responded as they have on many occasions this winter; by clamping down on the defensive end. Conant was held to one-point the rest of the way while Beckwith added four points to her total to help Fall Mountains secure a six-point win.
Clara Stewart (16), Riley Beckwith (13), Sophia Grillone (9) and Abby Jarvis (7) were the leading scorers for Fall Mountain (14-1). Ella Derosier led Conant (9-8) with 12 points, Lola Hayes scored 11 and Hannah Manley added 10.
