Sunapee
Despite the divine monikers, the Knights took their lumps during five years of junior varsity play and while transitioning to NHIAA Division IV.
“When we play teams now that are at the bottom of the division, we see how they play with only one or two offenses and one or two defenses, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Hogan, who scored 11 points Friday during a 52-17 defeat of visiting Lin-Wood. “We can totally see ourselves in them and it’s a little scary sometimes.”
Said fellow senior guard Alexis Matte, who had 18 points: “It’s crazy how much we’ve developed as a team and how much everybody has gotten better. We work so much better together.”
Mount Royal is 10-4 overall and 9-3 in division play. There are a half-dozen teams ahead of the Knights in the current standings, but the third-year NHIAA program has the potential for a playoff run. The Knights have four seniors among their 10 players, and Hogan and Matte are in their fifth varsity seasons.
The latter, the daughter of longtime Lebanon High boys basketball coach Kieth Matte, entered the night averaging 20.2 points per game, but has a strong supporting cast. Hogan and forward Sophie LaRose are others to watch in what’s often a seven-Knight rotation.
“I trust Jactina and Sophie to run plays if they have to,” said Alexis Matte, whose father videotapes the Mount Royal games and occasionally offers pointers to 32-year-old coach Derek Tremblay, the school’s diminutive headmaster who grew up a hockey player in southern New Hampshire.
“I know that if I go stand in the corner and bring my girl out of the way, they’re going to be able to get a layup or a good look. I don’t need to be in every play for it to go well,” Matte said.
The neatly-bearded Tremblay, who said he began coaching the team for a lack of other candidates, has a personal policy of not shouting at referees and projects a poised demeanor. His work and that of his players has moved Mount Royal from a novelty to a legitimate squad.
“We’ve certainly added to the playbook,” said Tremblay, whose institution’s high school includes 55 students. “We can bring defensive pressure and I can call a play, and everyone knows where to start, what cuts to make and which passes to look for.
“This has turned into a basketball group because of their work. They’ve done summer leagues and holiday tournaments and open gym. For a really small school, we have the numbers and experience to sustain ourselves now.”
The Knights jumped on Lin-Wood from the start. It began with a full-court press and continued with smooth, offensive movement that left the Lumberjacks often unsure of whom to guard. Throw in aggressive rebounding and the hosts waltzed to a 24-6 halftime lead en route to their seventh victory in their last eight games.
“You have to bring pressure if you want to pick up the pace of the game,” Tremblay said. “That way you increase your possessions and get easy points off turnovers. There was a time when we were the victims of that pressure and on the other side of these games, so we try to be respectful about it.
“We practice against pressure every day so the girls are comfortable giving and receiving all that hostility right in their face.”
Mount Royal plays a pair of the division’s lesser lights before a Feb. 5 visit to neighboring Sunapee, which it beat for the first time in school history earlier this season. Despite winning that earlier game by 27 points, the Knights realize triumphing for the first time on their rivals’ floor can’t be assumed.
“We know every single one of those girls by name and the tension is really high surrounding that game,” said Hogan, who grew up in Newport and has teammates from Lebanon, Grantham, Sunapee, New London and Wilmot. “It will be a mental challenge.”
After the Lakers game, back-to-back clashes loom with division powers Farmington and Hinsdale, each of which whipped the Knights earlier this season. Hogan knows those contests will be crucial in where Mount Royal lands for postseason seeding and is confident it can do better than its quarterfinal exit against the Pacers last year.
“We’ve got to host a home playoff game,” Hogan said. “We did that last year and we cannot not do it again. It would be such a downgrade for us.”
Said Tremblay: “Those are going to be bellwether games for us. We need to hit our shots, like we did tonight and we can’t let other teams get in their half-court sets. We have the toughest schedule of anyone in the division, and I think that will pay off for us.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.