Conant High School alums Brynn Rautiola and Emma Tenters soaring at the college level

Emma Tenters of Jaffrey shares a laugh with her teammates on the bench. 

Emma Tenters of Jaffrey shares a laugh with her teammates on the bench.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Emma Tenters tries a corner 3-pointer as Kiley Bundy closes in. 

Emma Tenters tries a corner 3-pointer as Kiley Bundy closes in.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Brynn Rautiola brings the ball up for Keene State.

Brynn Rautiola brings the ball up for Keene State. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Free throws for Brynn Rautiola. 

Free throws for Brynn Rautiola.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Emma Tenters and former Fall Mountain rival Avery Stewart ready for a rebound. 

Emma Tenters and former Fall Mountain rival Avery Stewart ready for a rebound.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Brynn  Rautiola drives at Emma Tenters as the two were briefly one-on-one.

Brynn  Rautiola drives at Emma Tenters as the two were briefly one-on-one. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Hinsdale alum Angelina Nardolillo, center, of Rhode Island College, boxes out Keene State’s Brynn Rautiola of Rindge, right, and Lilly Krysinski during the RIC women’s basketball team’s 60-48 win over KSC in Keene on Saturday.

Hinsdale alum Angelina Nardolillo, center, of Rhode Island College, boxes out Keene State’s Brynn Rautiola of Rindge, right, and Lilly Krysinski during the RIC women’s basketball team’s 60-48 win over KSC in Keene on Saturday. BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Emma Tenters of Jaffrey, a sophomore forward on the Rhode Island College women's basketball team, goes up for a layup against Keene State. 

Emma Tenters of Jaffrey, a sophomore forward on the Rhode Island College women's basketball team, goes up for a layup against Keene State.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

By BEN CONANT

For the Ledger-Transcript

Published: 01-27-2025 12:42 PM

Modified: 01-28-2025 6:48 AM


Two former Oriole basketball champions have taken flight and taken their game to the next level this collegiate season.

Conant 2023 grads Brynn Rautiola and Emma Tenters have found new homes with their college programs, and last week, the two faced off as opponents for the first time since middle school, as Rautiola’s Keene State team hosted Tenters and Rhode Island College. 

Rautiola, a 5-foot, 7-inch point guard, made headlines in her freshman season, averaging nearly 20 points per game and earning Little East Conference and New England Women’s Basketball Association Rookie of the Year honors. She has continued to improve in her sophomore campaign, putting up a new career high of 36 points and eight 3-pointers earlier this season. 

“You know the term ‘gym rat?’ That describes her to a T,” KSC head coach Keith Boucher said of his sophomore guard. “She's always working on her game, trying to improve. You can't do it all in practice, so you’re relying on a person to be self-motivated. That's a rare quality today, and I'll be honest with you, not every student-athlete has it. Brynn has it.”

Tenters, meanwhile, languished a bit in her freshman season at Emmanuel College, as the 5-foot, 11-inch forward wasn’t able to crack the Saints’ sizable lineup for much meaningful playing time, averaging 2.3 points in about nine minutes a game. But after transferring to Rhode Island College in the offseason, Tenters has made the most of her new landing spot; after acclimating herself to the new team, she’s now cemented into the starting lineup at power forward. 

“Emma fits our dynamic well, because she runs the floor well. She is versatile, so she can stretch the floor and go inside or out, and she plays hard,” said RIC head coach Jenna Cosgrove. “The first semester, whether a freshman or transfer, is a big adjustment. Once she was able to learn our system, she started becoming more comfortable and was able to contribute more on both sides of the ball to earn a starting spot.”

Cosgrove actually had Tenters on her radar years ago, recruiting her out of high school on the recommendation of Bedford High coach Kevin Gibbs, who compared the Conant star to Hinsdale center Angelina Nardolillo, another of Cosgrove’s New Hampshire recruits. 

“He told me that Emma Tenters was the next Angelina Nardolillo,” Cosgrove said. “When he said that, it was a no-brainer for me to call Emma right away.”

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Tenters and Rautiola were quite the dynamic duo at Conant, winning two championships in two undefeated seasons and appearing in four state title games. Both finished as Division III Players of the Year and 1,000-point scorers. 

“Obviously, we achieved a lot during our run at Conant,” Rautiola said. “And what we did together under coach [Brian] Troy was special.”

But when KSC hosted RIC on Jan.18, the two were on opposing sides for the first time since Tenters was a Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School Cardinal and Rautiola was a Boynton Bulldog. It was a homecoming of sorts for Tenters and Nardolillo. The latter, now a senior, was playing her last game in front of a New Hampshire crowd, and the former returned to the Monadnock region, its adoring fans and the gym where she hoisted one championship trophy and played in three title games. 

“It was so full circle, walking back up on this little walkway,” Tenters said. “All the memories.” 

The game itself went Rhode Island’s way, a 60-48 win for the Anchorwomen, as Cosgrove focused RIC’s defense on Rautiola and held her to a season-low eight points. 

“I am familiar with Brynn as their top scorer as a freshman last year,” Cosgrove said. “She is an impressive scorer. Our team was aware of her high volume of shots, particularly 3-point shots. The emphasis was to limit these attempts. Fortunately for us, the best defender in the league is our point guard [Madison Medbury], who was able to not only defend her, but shut her down.”

Rautiola was frustrated after the game, but the loss will likely just be a bump in the road as she and the Owls go forward. The team lost in the LEC quarterfinals last spring, but Rautiola has higher hopes for her team and herself this year. 

“My ultimate goal is to win an LEC championship,” Rautiola said. “Individually, I want to continue to improve and upgrade my skills so I can become the best version of myself possible. I have a goal of becoming an All-American, and I want to go down as one of the best players to ever play at Keene State - and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there.”

The KSC/RIC showdown featured a handful of players from Division III and IV schools around the region. Rhode Island had Tenters and Nardolillo, while the local Owls included Rautiola, Kiley Bundy of Stevens and Avery Stewart of Fall Mountain, all stars in their high school days now exemplifying what it takes to make it as a collegiate athlete from a small town. 

“I think when you come from a small school and you play college basketball, you have a chip on your shoulder,” Boucher said. “You know, ‘I can play with this kid, I can play with these other players, and it doesn't matter what level I'm coming from.’ At small schools, there's not a lot going on in those towns besides sports, and Jaffrey is one of them. I've been in the gym a few times – that whole town goes to games. The place is packed, whether there’s a girls’ or boys’ game, it’s packed. And it’s the same thing at Fall Mountain, Stevens, especially when they're playing their rival. The reason is because they love their sports in those towns and they support the sports, so these kids grow up with the enthusiasm to play because the people are supporting them and I think that's where they get their drive.”

That tradition got a big boost Saturday afternoon in the Keene State gym, which was packed with current high school players hoping to follow in the footsteps of their collegiate heroes. Contingents of student-athletes from Conant, Stevens, Mascenic, Hinsdale and several other schools were in attendance. Hinsdale point guard Gemma Doty waited by the RIC locker room for some time for a chance to meet Nardolillo, and she wasn’t the only one inspired. 

“My whole high school team, the current Conant team was here,” Tenters said. “It was really cool to see everybody. And now I'm playing at the collegiate level here. It's just so cool. I know all those girls are so inspired by that because two Conant players are playing in a game – that's really cool for them to see. I'm just walking down and I hear, ‘Hi Emma. Hi Emma.’ It's so cool to see everybody I know. We have such a supportive basketball community.”