KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) There may have been 14 teams in the NHIAA Girls Division III Basketball Tournament, all vying for a chance to walk away as state champions, but at the end of it all, the undefeated, No. 1 seeded Fall Mountain Wildcats walked away with their first state championship in over four decades, defeating Gilford 50-21 on Saturday afternoon at Keene State College.

It was a matchup of the best team in Division III versus the third best team in Division III, as Gilford was the No. 3 seed in the tournament. Gilford faced tough competition on its path to the championship round, as it faced perennial tournament participant Monadnock in the semifinals who were actually the seventh seed in the tournament. The Huskies had knocked out No. 2 seed St. Thomas Aquinas in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal game came down to the final few possessions, and the Golden Eagles walked away with the six-point, 45-39 victory. Gilford walked into Keene State College on Saturday afternoon with the soon-to-be-named NHIAA Division III Coach of the Year Scott Currier hoping to lead his team to the promise land.

There was a chip on the shoulder of the Wildcats, however: they had been here recently, and they weren’t going to let the opportunity pass them up again. Fall Mountain was in the state title game last year and fell to St. Thomas by 37 points.

Entering the tournament with an undefeated record of 16-0 and an average margin of victory of over 38 points, the Wildcats breezed through the regular season with ease. The closest contest that Fall Mountain ever found itself in was a 14-point victory over Kearsarge, who were eventually the No. 8 seed in the tournament.

The defense the Wildcats displayed all year was historic, as in 13 of their 16 regular season games, they allowed 25 or fewer points. That defense was on full display from the opening tip in the championship game, as when the first quarter ended, Fall Mountain was leading 22-2.

The Golden Eagles never recovered from the early offensive onslaught, even as the Wildcats offense slowed through the rest of the game, managing 29 points over the next three frames. What didn’t slow down was their defense. While it would’ve been impossible to limit Gilford’s scoring as well as they did in the first quarter throughout the whole game, they did pretty well. Over the final three quarters, the Golden Eagles mustered only 19 points, 15 of which came in a second half that they entered trailing by 25.

It wasn’t just the championship round that was lopsided for Fall Mountain. In the quarterfinals, the White Mountains ended up scoring the highest number of points that the Wildcats had allowed all year; that number, however, was only 36 points. Fall Mountain scored 56. The semifinal matchup wasn’t any closer, with Prospect Mountain falling by 20 to the Wildcats as well, losing 45-25.

It was utter dominance from the champs all year long, and it was represented in the end of year awards. Two members of Fall Mountain’s team were named to either the NHIAA First or Second Team All-State for Division III, with Sophia Grillone ending on the first team, and Jenna Fillion on the second team.

Abby Jarvis and Kelsey Fillion were named to the Honorable Mention Team, and Jarvis was named to the NHIAA Division III All-Defensive Team.

This is the Wildcats first state championship since 1983, and they’ve been to the championship round five times since 2014. Fall Mountain made history not just by winning the title, but also in the fashion it won the championship; it held its opponent to the second lowest scoring output ever by a team in the championship round in Division III. It would take travelling back two decades to find a game where one defense was so effective in the most important game of the season. Belmont held Newport to 19 points in 2006.