Amelia's Got Game

LACONIA — After three quarters, the Laconia Middle School girls' basketball team held a commanding 37 to 14 lead over Bow yesterday. With 24 points and three assists, Amelia Clairmont accounted for 30 of her team's points then sat out the fourth quarter as the Sachems coasted to easy 48 to 24 win, running their unbeaten string to 14.

Clairmont, who began playing basketball in first grade, said simply, "I just love the game." She plays and practices seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, traveling to Lawrence, Mass., on weekends to join the New Hampshire Rivals, an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) club, playing eight games in two days, as well as working out under the eye of Scott Hazelton, a former McDonald's All-American who starred at the University of Rhode Island. In the summer she plays in the park, often with her older brother Alex and his friends. "If you want to get beat," she tells them, "it's okay with me."

Chick Tautkus, Clairmont's coach at LMS, said, "She exudes a passion for basketball and has a rare dedication to the game."

At 5 feet, 8 inches and about 135 pounds, Clairmont already stands tall and strong for a 14-year-old eighth-grader, but insists, "I work out and I'm trying to get really strong." Almost from the beginning she has been matched against older players, playing a year or more ahead of her age.

Despite her size, she sees herself as a point guard, even as she plays in the middle of the back line of a two-three zone. "I like to drive. Attack the rim," she said. Against Bow, Clairmont worked her crossover dribble and threaded the lane several times for easy layups, but also drained four 3-point shots from beyond the arc.

"She's a basketball player," said Tautkus, "and can play all over the floor — shoot, pass, rebound defend, steal — she does it all."

He began coaching Clairmont when she was in fourth grade and has seen her game improve during her three years on the A team.

"Her ball handling and shooting have really improved," he said. "She can take over a game."

Clairmont said that she models her game on LeBron James.

"I watch all his moves and work to copy them— spin moves, crossover dribble, behind the back and through the legs, no-look passes," she said. "I want to be shoot the three-pointer and play tough close to the riim."

And like her idol, she wears a headband.

Tautkus described Clairmont as a keen competitor, recalling that recently she fell hard and hit her head on the floor, but insisted, "I'm not coming out of this game." In a hard-fought game against Belmont, he said she took a beating then "came on like gangbusters, on a mission. You just got to love it."

For all Clairmont's talent, she is a team player, who looks for the open teammate and shares the ball. Against Bow she scored with economy and efficiency, without forcing shots. On the A Team she is accompanied by talented teammates like Hannah Dow, Caitlyn Beattie, Ellie Kelly and Skyler Tautkus who together play aggressive, pressing defense and fast-paced offense with energy and finesse.

Clairmont also shines the classroom as a straight A student.

"Her test scores are through the roof," said her mother, Erin Davis. "When we're on the road she's in the back seat with the light on and the books open."

"I like to win," Clairmont said, her blue eyes widening and a broad smile lighting her face.