Winter Sports

Finalists: Queen of New Hampshire High School Basketball

Here are the six finalists for the first Queen of New Hampshire High School Basketball

Here are the six finalists for the first Queen of New Hampshire High School Basketball. All are worthy candidates for the crown, but only one will win. To find out who it is, tune in to the New Hampshire High School Sports Show on WGIR AM 610 and 96.7 “The Wave.”

To find out who the finalists are (listed in alphabetical order), go to the jump.

Rebecca Arnone, Campbell

Arnone, a senior, became just the second girls basketball player in New Hampshire history to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds (Londonderry’s Stephanie Murphy is the other). Arnone reached both milestones this season while lead Campbell to its fifth-straight championship game appearance.

The Cougars, who won the Division III title a year ago, finished this season with a record of 21-1, with the one loss coming in the championship game. Arnone averaged just under 14 points in the postseason, but that included scoring just two in the final while playing limited minutes because of foul trouble.

Amra Elezovic, Manchester Memorial

There may not have been a more versatile girls basketball player in the state than Elezovic. The senior could do just about everything on the court – score, rebound, pass, defend – and Memorial coach Jack Quirk certainly asked her to do it all.

“She’s probably the most unique player in the state,” Quirk said. “She could from point guard to power forward. She is a good 3-point shooter, she can put it on the floor and go by people, she can post up.”

With limited depth this season, the Crusaders leaned on Elezovic a lot this season and it helped them reach the Division I semifinals, where they fell to eventual-champion Bishop Guertin. Against Timberlane in the opening round of the playoffs, Elezovic put up a triple double, scoring 16 points, grabbing 12 rebound and dishing out 11 assists. In Memorial’s quarterfinal win over Pinkerton, the senior went the first 10 minutes without scoring a point, but was able to find open teammates to help the Crusaders get out to a big lead.

“She just had to do a lot,” Quirk said. “There were many games where she had double digit assists. Sometimes she was better when she wasn’t scoring. If teams double-teamed her, they would pay the price because she was able to pass out of the double.”

Elezovic will continue her basketball career in college, as she’s set to attend UMass-Lowell next year.

Meghan Green, Bishop Guertin

It takes a lot for a high school basketball player to reach the 1,000-point milestone as a senior. Green did it this year as a junior, and she’s on pace to become just the third girls to top a thousand in both points and rebounds.

“Meghan is the type of girl who works extremely hard,” Bishop Guertin coach Scott Hazelton said. “That was evident throughout the year. As the year went on, she kept getting better and that’s due to her practice habits.”

Green was named the Division I Player of the Year and helped the Cardinals win their first girls basketball title. In one of the biggest games of the year, a regular season win that snapped Winnacunnet’s 84-game winning streak, she scored 37 points and grabbed 23 rebounds. During the regular season, Green averaged 18.9 points and 13.5 rebounds and in the championship win over Londonderry, she had 17 points and 17 boards.

“I think the special thing about Meghan is she still has a ton of room to get better,” Hazelton said. “She hasn’t even scratched the surface. I think that’s exciting and she’s excited about that.”

Green is already getting offers from schools, including a few Division I colleges, and Hazelton believes Green definitely has the potential to succeed at the next level.

“She’s a great player,” Hazelton said. “She put up great numbers as a freshman, huge numbers as a sophomore and she’s been able to build on it every year. This year was kind of like a coming out party.”

Moriah Morton, Lebanon

Of the six players named to the Division II first team, all were seniors except Morton. One opposing coach already calls her the favorite for next year’s player of the year award.

This year, with fellow standout Trina Scheie out for the season, Morton helped lead Lebanon back to the Division II semifinals for the third straight year. The junior averaged 14.6 points while helping the Raiders to a 17-1 record during the regular season, and Morton stepped up her play in the playoffs, averaging 17 points per game.

Kirsten O’Neil, Winnacunnet

O’Neil put together one of the most complete careers in New Hampshire high school basketball history. The senior point guard finished her varsity career with a 70-2 record, three championships and four semifinal appearances.

While the Warriors failed to make the Division I championship game for the first time since 2006, O’Neil received one of the state’s top honors when she was named New Hampshire’s Gatorade Player of the Year. She also received Division I first-team honors while averaging 15.6 points, 10.2 assists, four steals and three rebounds this season.

O’Neil was a two-sport star for Winnacunnet and she’ll be attending San Diego State University next year to play soccer.

Jane White, Souhegan

White’s list of high school accomplishments is long: two-time Division II first-team, the 2012 Division II Player of the Year, 1,000-point scorer, back-to-back championships. In those two championship years, White helped lead the Sabers to a combined 40-4 record.

“She can do it all,” Souhegan coach Jeremy Faulkner said. “I’ve been (coaching) for 15 years, and she’s one of the most complete players, boys and girls, I’ve ever been around. She can control a game.”

After averaging around 23 points per game as a junior, White averaged 19 points this season to go with eight rebounds per game, and she reached the 1,000-point milestone midway through the season. Despite missing time to a nagging ankle injury, the senior almost always had the ball in her hand.

“She’s the only player I’ve seen who can step on the floor and she can flip a switch and say I’m not hurt,” Faulkner said. “(The ankle) affected her quite a bit, but she won’t show it.”

As a junior, White scored 28 of Souhegan’s 47 points in the championship game win over Lebanon. In this year’s final against Kearsarge, she found other ways to help the Sabers win. After going scoreless in the first half, White finished with 11 points.

Next year, White will continue her playing career at Bentley University.

How the voting was done: Members of the media (listed below) selected their top six players, assigning them a ranking of one through six. A first-place vote got six points, second place got five points and so on down to sixth place, which got one point. A complete list of points will be revealed on Saturday after the winners have been announced.

Voters