March 9, 2012 - 14 Hudson~Litchfield Sports Lady Cougars Fall to White Mountain in Repeat Bid A disappointed Campbell team headed by Becca Arnone #23, Liz Pettis #10,


Ashley Gannon #34, and Hannah Neild #33 prepare to congratulate White Mountain players at the conclusion of the championship game at SNHU


familiar with WMRHS. White Mountain’s regular season mark of 16-2 might have been a little suspect, but with a closer observation, one would see that their only two regular season losses came to this year’s semi- finalist Newfound and 2012 Division IV state champion Littleton. With the championship game


Becca Arnone walks off to a standing ovation after fouling out with 4:51 remaining in regulation of the championship game Hannah Neild, #33, gets congratulated by teammates after her buzzer- beating triple from another area code gave the Cougars a 40-39 lead after three quarters


by Marc Ayotte Back in November, twenty-three teams started the 2011-2012 girls’ Division III basketball season. Realistically, only a handful of teams possessed enough talent to ultimately take the title or even pose a threat to last year’s defending champion Campbell High. With Coach Shawn Flynn returning not one, but two possible players of the year candidates for their senior year, in Liz Pettis and Becca Arnone, the Cougars were pre- season favorites in many eyes, to repeat as state champions. Add the year-long superlative play of freshman Hannah Neild along with a solid supporting cast and back to back titles was a foregone conclusion. Not in the eyes of White Mountain Regional. With a raucous fan base, a spirited and deafening band along with an effectively executed game plan by Coach Gary Jenness’s Spartans, which included an all-world, 19 point , 20 rebound performance by Bryanna Bennett, the number three White Mountain quintet stunned Campbell and the Cougar contingent with an exciting 56-51win in the field house on the campus of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) on Saturday, March 3. It was the fifth trip to the


championship game in as many years for Campbell, with their sole


title coming as a result of last year’s victory over arch rival Conant. The road back to the 2012 finals was met with few obstacles. Campbell’s only real test came in a battle against Bow on January 31, which at the time pitted the two undefeated teams for outright possession of first place in the standings. After the Cougar’s 50-33 dismissal of the Falcons, it seemed that no team would stand in the way of a Campbell repeat.


After steamrolling opponents during the regular season as evidenced by an unblemished 18-0 record, the Cougars recorded easy wins in their first two rounds of the playoffs. A 58- 24 crushing of Prospect Mountain set up a quarter-finals game with number nine seed Hopkinton, of whom the Cougars eliminated with a convincing 52-36 home court win, advancing to the semis to be held at the neutral site of SNHU. Similarly, White Mountain used a 41 point preliminary round win to go with a 46-36 quarter-finals win over number 11 Winnisquam to advance to the semis in the bottom half of the championship bracket. Campbell, with a tough-fought 50- 45 win over the number four seed Bears of Newfound, advanced to the championship game. Meanwhile, the Spartans, in their 36-29 semi-finals spanking of Bow, were opening up some eyes that were not otherwise


underway, an athletic spin move in the paint by Aly O’Donnell finished off a nice fast break pass from Liz Pettis to give the Cougars an early 2-0 lead. But it was soon after that Spartan’s Bennett started to display her dominance in the paint, hauling down three consecutive defensive rebounds en route to a 14-13 first quarter White Mountain lead. The Spartan’s scored the second quarter’s first five points with Kaitlin Wood’s triple giving her team a 19-13 lead. With 6:28 remaining in the half, Becca Arnone’s hoop stopped the WM run at seven, making the score 21-15, Spartans. Incredibly, not only would that be the Cougar greats only basket, it would be her only shot attempt from the floor for the entire championship game. With respect to his opposing coach’s defensive strategy on Arnone, Coach Flynn took the high road, saying; “He really took her out of the game – hats off to Gary (Jenness).” More effectively taking her out of the game, as heard from the disgruntled Cougar fans, was the ill-effects of a championship contest that was marred by a total of 41 personal fouls, resulting in four players fouling out, as well as shamefully limiting the Campbell go- to-girl to15 minutes of court time. After Pettis’s ‘AND 1’ cut the Cougar deficit to three, at 21-18, what spectators in the field house saw was Arnone pick-up her third personal foul with 5:44 remaining in the quarter. Hannah Neild’s trifecta with 3:32 left kept Campbell within three, at 24- 21. However, with Arnone relegated to bench duty in fear of picking up her fourth foul before the half, WM continued to dominate in the paint. Nine-second chance points, 16 points in the lane, along with out-rebounding the Cougars 23-14 enabled the Spartans to build a 27-21 lead heading into the intermission.


Campbell combined an early second half basket by Ashley Gannon with an O’Donnell ‘AND 1’ to pull within three at 29-26, forcing WM into a timeout. Liz Pettis’s steal and subsequent coast to coast layup, followed by her two free throws gave Campbell the lead at 30-29 with 4:46 left in the third. Another Pettis bucket from the right side of the lane and a clutch O’Donnell ‘tres’ concluded a


14-3 Cougar run, giving the number one seed a momentum-shifting 35-30 lead at the 3:12 mark. Alex Trevains’ jumper with 1:35 left retained her team’s lead at 37-34, but Bennett’s old fashion three point play on the heels of an offensive rebound put back, polished off a mini, 5-0 Spartan run, as they regained the lead 39-37 with 1.3 seconds on the clock. However, the scoring was not finished, as Campbell’s freshman phenom Hannah Neild launched a homing missile from just inside the Hooksett toll booth. In flight with the horn sounding, Neild’s strike found the bottom of the net; energizing the Cougars to a 40-39 lead heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.


According to White Mountain head


coach Jenness; “the key for us was to keep the game close in the first quarter, which we did.” Jenness recalled that Campbell had matchup problems offensively with Arnone in foul trouble. Those problems compounded when Arnone was charged with her fifth and game-exiting foul; a questionable call at best, especially given the critical timing of the call. Nonetheless, when Arnone’s role took to that of cheerleader on the sideline with 4:51 remaining in the game, the Cougars did in fact hold a precarious 44-42 lead. After surrendering the lead momentarily, Neild’s drive to the hoop for two knotted the score at 46 with 3:53 left. As the clock ticked under the 2:00 mark, Campbell found itself trailing 48-47. With 1:36 left, Bennett was fouled and went to the stripe to make the first of her two free throw attempts. But after missing her next attempt, the 6-foot 1-inch Spartan center followed up her miss with an offensive rebound and cashed it in for a pivotal 51-47 lead. Hannah Neild once again silenced the Spartan faithful while simultaneously bringing the Cougar crowd to their feet when she drained her third triple of the night, making the score 51-50 WM, with 1:14 to go. After being fouled with :13.7 on the clock, WM’s Payton Curtis converted on one of two free throws to give the Spartans a 54-51 lead. The Cougars inbounded the ball,


advancing it to midcourt where Flynn called for a timeout with 10.7 seconds remaining. A beautifully designed play found Pettis open on the right wing in front of the Cougar bench. With a clean look at the hoop and the hopeful anticipation of the Cougar fans in the background guiding the rock to the rim, Pettis’s game-tying attempt rattled in and out, spelling another bitter, championship game defeat for the


Bronco Swimmers Place at State Championship


submitted by Stasia Dionne On Saturday, February 11, the Alvirne girls’ and boys’ swim teams competed in


the Division I State Championships at the University of New Hampshire. Alvirne sent six individual qualifiers and two relay swimmers to compete in the meet hoping to place in the top six and move on to the Meet of Champions on Sunday. Leading the way for the girls team was Junior, Becky Dionne, with an impressive first place finish in the 100 free (53.36) and second place in the 100 Back (59.42), breaking her own school records in both events. Joining her were teammates Jessica Cocozziello 20th in the 50 free (28.10), and Christina Stewart 22nd in the 50 free (28.83) and 12th in the 100 Breast (1:18.54). Lauren Bistany joined teammates Dionne, Cocozziello and Stewart for a fifth place finish in the 200 Medley Relay and a sixth place finish in the 200 Free Relay. Dionne qualified in both events for the Meet of Champions and the relay team joined her. For the boys, Alex Luebbers lead the way with an outstanding swim in the 200 IM (2:11.56) for 10th place and a new school record. Alex also swam the 100 Free (53.27) coming in 10th. Not to be outdone, Zach Keller came in ninth in the 100 breast (1:12.05) and 15th in the 50 Free (25.84). Turning in a season’s best performance was Josh Keller in the 100 Back (1:07.22) for 15th place. Mike Frassica joined the relay team of Lueubbers, Z. Keller and J. Keller, they placed seventh in the 200 Free Relay. Although the boys turned in standout performance they did not qualify for the Meet of Champions. In the Meet of Champions, the top six swimmers in each event from Division I


Is a picture of Becky Dionne receiving her medal for winning the 100 Free


and Division II complete. Becky Dionne represented Alvirne well and once again turned in impressive performance in the 100 free (53.53) by breaking the meet record, but narrowly came in second by .05 seconds. In the 100 back (1:00.22) she took third. The relay team of Jessica Cocozziello, Becky Dionne, Lauren Bistany and Christina Stewart placed seventh in the 200 Medley Relay and 10th in the 200 Free Relay. Dionne was the only swimmer to qualify for the New England Championship meet.


Liz Pettis’s game-tying three point attempt just does not get to the bottom of the net as the Cougars fell to White Mountain in their bid to repeat as D-3 state champs


Lady Cougars (see photo). Hannah Neild and Liz Pettis combined for 28 Cougar points, scoring 14 each. Ali O’Donnell had arguably her best offensive showing of the season by knocking down two triples on the way to recording 13 points. Alex Trevains had a major contribution, leading the team with 11 boards while chipping in six points.


In defeat, Campbell coach Shawn Flynn, among courtside speculation of him not returning for the 2012-2013 campaign, did credit the Spartans, saying “they were very disciplined on the offensive end”, adding that his seniors should be very proud for having reached four championship games during their high school career. Looking back on their storied CHS


career, Pettis and Arnone shared some of their thoughts on the game and the season; “I believe it was one of our best games this year and that we played well as a team the entire game” offered the two sport star Pettis. The senior guard added that “it would have been an entirely different game had Becca been out there in the end. We could have used her energy and rebounding to help pick us up, however everyone one else picked it up” in her absence. A reflective Arnone summed up the Cougar season by saying “although we didn’t finish off the season as well as we’d like to, I couldn’t be any happier with this year’s team. Together we made an incredible accomplishment, winning 39 straight games (spanning two seasons). It was all due to hard work, determination, and team chemistry.” In comparing this year’s tough defeat to the thrill of raising the banner last season, a poised, confident and gracious Arnone added “Last year, winning the championship was an amazing feeling, a feeling that we would have liked to feel this year, but we got beat by a better team. We played our hearts out, gave it our all, and left everything we had out on that floor. In the end, we’re upset we didn’t bring it home, but we won’t be bitter. We’ll hold our heads high and hold each other up because we truly are a team.”


Girls relay team of Lauren Bistany, Jessica Cocozziello, Becky Dionne, Christina Stewart


Staff photos by Marc Ayotte


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