Game of the Day

The Prout girls basketball team needed to find a way to get over last week’s loss to Exeter-West Greenwich. Beating a Division II playoff team certainly qualifies. Prout wasted little time in showing what it learned from the loss. Hosting Division-II Coventry on Monday, the Crusaders started the game ablaze, building a double-digit lead it never looked back from in a 55-45 win over the Oakers.

The January 15 loss to Exeter-West Greenwich in a matchup between Division III’s top teams showed Prout it had plenty to work on if it wanted to avoid the same fate as last season, when it lost in the D-III title game. At worst, Monday’s game with Coventry – one of the surprise stories in Division II this season – was a chance to test themselves against a tough opponent and pick up some needed points in the RPI standings. The best-case scenario was exactly what happened.

It wasn’t one player carrying the Prout offense early, it was all of them as the balanced scoring attack proved fruitful with six different players getting points to build an 18-7 lead after the first quarter was done. While the scoring slowed down in the second – neither team put up double digits – the Crusaders took a 25-17 lead into the locker room. Both offenses returned for the second half, with Sabrina Vesey scoring seven points in the period for the Oakers. While the quarter was Coventry’s best of the night, Millie Maher put up half of Prout’s 18 points to make it 43-30 heading to the final quarter. Maher continued to shine, again scoring half of her team’s points, and the defense came up with the plays when needed to prevent a Coventry comeback. Maher’s 14-point second half made her the leading scorer for Prout with 15 total points. Katie LaPlante was steady on offense for the Crusaders and scored 13. Lauren Gill added nine in the win. Vesey led Coventry with 18 points and Leah Lapham scored nine in the loss.

Girls Basketball – Division I

Portsmouth 36, Cranston West 31

The Patriots were in control for three quarters, then held on for dear life late to pull out a 36-31 win over the Falcons. It was a game of runs and for three quarters, Portsmouth made more of them. The Patriots opened the game building an 8-0 lead and after Cranston West came back to make it 9-8 with 1:40 left in the first quarter, Portsmouth scored the final four points and then opened the second with a 6-0 run. The Patriots played their best in the third quarter, building the lead to double digits and keeping it there after a Haley Hurd layup made it 30-18 heading to the fourth. That’s where the fun began. A previously quiet Falcons’ offense got hot in a hurry, as two 3-pointers from Talya Walker and five points from Kyla Buco had the team down 32-29 with 3:36 left in the game. Cranston West got the deficit down to one on a tough layup by Maggie Sjovall with 38 seconds left. The Falcons were forced to foul and Violet Silvia came up clutch with a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left. Portsmouth dodged a last-second bullet and Annie Hurd made two free throws with .4 seconds left for the game’s final points. Silvia was the top scorer for Portsmouth, scoring 12 of her 14 points in the first half. Gyselle Mairs scored 10 and Haley Hurd helped the cause with six. Walker led Cranston West with 11 points and Buco added eight in the loss.

St. Raphael 56, Johnston 46

Carolyn Abreu got hot at the right time, knocking down some big shots in the third quarter to give the Saints the breathing room they needed to finish off the Panthers, 56-46. Division-II Johnston gave Division-I St. Raphael all it could handle in the first half. Isabella Rivas hit three 3-pointers and Vanessa Febus scored eight points as the Panthers led 15-15 after the first quarter before trailing 30-26 at halftime. The Saints needed a spark and found it in Abreu, who hit two 3-pointers and made two more buckets that doubled up the lead heading to the fourth quarter. There, Jireh Smith found the touch from deep with a pair of 3-pointers and St. Raphael’s defense righted the ship to prevent a comeback. Abreu was the big scorer for St. Raphael with 17 points and Jocelyn Taylor was also in double figures with 12. Kenia Oyola scored all seven of her points in the first half and Smith and Zemirah Patray both scored six in the win. Febus and Rivas both finished the night with 12 points and Mia Solano scored nine, all on 3-pointers, in the loss.

Girls Basketball – Division II

East Providence 51, Bay View 37

The Townies were relentless on defense while Trinity Provencher handled the offense in the first half and Nadiyah Calouro-Vargas grabbed the reins in the second in their 57-41 win over the Bengals. East Providence didn’t look like a Division II team up against Bay View, a Division I intracity rival. The Townies dominated the game from the start and didn’t give the Bengals room to breath. Provencher took advantage of early opportunities and six first-quarter points had EP ahead 16-3 after the first eight minutes. She scored four more in the second as the Townies’ defense controlled the game and took a 27-12 lead into the half. Bay View hung around in the third quarter, getting the deficit down to 11, but Calouro-Vargas made sure EP wasn’t giving that up. She scored eight points in the fourth to help the Townies secure the victory. With her boom in the fourth, Calouro-Vargas finished as EP’s top scorer with 15 points. Provencher was right behind her with 13 and Kat Amado nearly got to double figures, scoring nine. Lailah Valles left it all on the court for Bay View, scoring 26 points in the loss.

Girls Basketball – Division III

Burrillville 47, Achievement First 14

It took a quarter for the Broncos to find their footing on offense but with how the defense was playing, that was just fine as they shut out the Falcons in the first half on their way to a 47-14 win. Points were hard to come by for both Burrillville and Achievement First as they both rebounded well and didn’t turn the ball over in a way that led to fast break layups. The Broncos led 5-0 after the opening eight minutes, but Mackenzie Stone’s play in the middle turned the game for good. The junior center overpowered the Falcons inside, getting second chance opportunities and controlling the post. Stone scored seven points in the second quarter that helped put Burrillville ahead 22-0 at the break. That momentum didn’t stop out of halftime and while Achievement First got on the board – thanks to a free throw by Melanie Pujols – Stone and Avery Bousquet made sure the Broncos maintained their lead before unleashing the bench in the fourth quarter. Stone had a double-double for Burrillville and led the team in scoring with 15 points. Bousquet came up with seven points and Siena Rosario added six. Hayden Peloquin made the most of her time on the court and scored the final three points of the game for the Broncos. Silvraida Mustafa led Achievement first with six points and Gihanna Mendez hit a 3-pointer in the loss.

Central Falls 42, Middletown 36

A 3-pointer by Tassiana Pizarro Pinto gave the Warriors the lead for good and Arielly DeAndrade helped finish things out in their 42-36 win over the Islanders. It was a great game from start to finish. Middletown led 15-10 with two minutes left in the second quarter before Central Falls closed on an 8-0 run to take an 18-15 lead into the locker room. Tied at 22, the Warriors closed strong again, going on a 9-1 run to take a 29-23 lead to the fourth quarter. The Islanders battled back, getting big buckets from all over and with 3:18 left in the game, Addison Ford’s driving layup tied the game at 34. Pizarro Pinto followed with a 3-pointer on the next possession, but Ford found Sadie Maloney for a layup that cut the Warriors’ lead to 37-36. Central Falls came up with plays on defense and DeAndrade got the separation it needed on offense with a tough bucket in the lane with 1:11 left and another with 43 seconds to go to nail down the win. It was a big night for DeAndrade, who scored 23 points for the Warriors. With her two fourth-quarter 3-pointers, Pizarro Pinto finished with nine points. Aiyanna Hernandez also hit two 3-pointers and scored nine in the win. Maloney’s fourth-quarter play got her to 13 points, best for Middletown. Finley Berard came up with 11 points and Ford added seven in the loss.

Girls Basketball – Other Scores

The home team coach failed to report scores or stats to the Journal from the following games. Home team is noted in CAPS. Players on these home teams will be ineligible as Player of the Week Nominees.

Division II

TIVERTON 68, West Warwick 36

Division III

TOLL GATE 33, Cranston East 31

Boys Basketball – Division I

Portsmouth 76, St. Raphael 35

Adam Conheeny was at it again, making sure the Patriots took command and rolled in in a 76-35 win over the Saints. Conheeny continued his standout career with Portsmouth by adding another 27 points to his school scoring record. Jack Casey added 24 points in the 76-35 win against the Saints in a cross-division matchup. The road win comes at a good time as Portsmouth fell by two points to Cumberland to end last week and the Patriots travel to Cranston East on Wednesday. Conheeny and Casey got Portsmouth started in the first quarter by scoring 13 of the Patriots’ 23 points in the frame. The defense was also on point as the Newport County school took a 23-10 lead into the halftime break. Zerek Johnson led St. Raphael with 13 points in the loss. The Saints travel to Burrillville on Tuesday.

Today’s Games

Tuesday, January 20

Boys Basketball – Division I

Mount Pleasant at Classical, 6 p.m.

North Kingstown at Hendricken, 6:30 p.m.

Cumberland at East Providence, 6:30 p.m.

South Kingstown at Cranston West, 7 p.m.

Smithfield at La Salle, 7 p.m.

Barrington at Lincoln, 7 p.m.

Tolman at Westerly, 7 p.m.

Boys Basketball – Division II

St. Raphael at Burrillville, 6:30 p.m.

North Providence at Chariho, 6:30 p.m.

Middletown at Moses Brown, 6:30 p.m.

Pilgrim at Narragansett, 6:30 p.m.

Coventry at Rogers, 7 p.m.

Boys Basketball – Division III

Prout at North Smithfield, 6 p.m.

Scituate vs. Achievement First at Achievement First Middle School, 6:30 p.m.

Paul Cuffee at Providence Country Day, 6:30 p.m.

Tiverton at West Warwick, 6:45 p.m.

Times2 at Blackstone Valley Prep, 7 p.m.

Girls Basketball – Division I

Lincoln School at La Salle, 4 p.m.

Juanita Sanchez at South Kingstown, 5 p.m.

Girls Basketball – Division II

Smithfield at North Providence, 6:30 p.m.

Toll Gate at East Greenwich, 7 p.m.

North Smithfield at Cumberland, 7:15 p.m.

Girls Basketball – Division III

Davies at Times2, 5 p.m.