Eastbayri.com

BARRINGTON — Woonsocket survived a frantic final few minutes as the visiting Villa Novans fended off the charge of Barrington High to defeat the Eagles, 48-46, in a key late season Division I-North girls’ basketball contest.

Following a quick burst to start the game by Barrington, Woonsocket was pretty much in command of the game the rest of the way until the Eagles made the Novans sweat out the victory over the last two minutes.

Woonsocket, which fell behind 8-0 to begin the night, used a 13-2 run to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Novans eventually held a 26-16 edge at intermission and maintained a four to five-possession lead for the better part of the second half until Barrington closed the gap significantly before ultimately falling short.

Woonsocket senior forward Kailey Fugere led all scorers with 30 points, 15 in each half. Her personal 9-0 run helped the Novans build their double-digit lead in the opening 16 minutes. Fugere, in fact, seemingly scored at will at times and also came up with key hoops in the second half when needed to keep the Eagles at bay.

“She’s one of, if not the best player in the state,” BHS head coach Steve Lenz said of Fugere. “The hard thing is keeping her in check. I thought at times we had good defensive position on her, forced her into tough shots, but she was still able to get the shot off or get her own rebound. That little spurt they had at the end of the first half to build the lead was all her. It wasn’t for lack of effort on our part. We got into some foul trouble and we had some inexperienced kids out there.”

Novan’s point guard Michelle Braboy added 13 points as only three Woonsocket players scored. Caroline Coleman scored 10 of her team-best 14 points in the second half to pace the Eagles. Maggie O’Hayer added 13 and Sarah Middleton nine. Sophomore forward Maura Kelty had only six points after getting into foul trouble attempting to guard Woonsocket’s Fugere.

Woonsocket improved to 9-4 in the I-North standings with the win and moved into a share of second place with Barrington, whose mark dropped to the same 9-4. The teams split their two regular-season meetings. A healthier bunch of Eagles were 51-32 winners over the Novans on the road back on Dec. 22. Both sides have one game against unbeaten and first-place Bay View remaining on their schedules. Otherwise, they hold their playoff futures in their own hands.

“We still have a chance to get the second seed, but it’s going to be tough,” said Lenz. “I’m just proud of the way my girls played tonight. I thought they played with a lot of heart, energy and effort. It’s hard to think about playoff seeding right now. We just need to keep getting better as we get ready for the playoffs.”

The Eagles could have put a firm grip on the second seed with a win Thursday, and they started off well enough. Barrington scored its first six points off three Woonsocket turnovers. The hosts then went up eight on a fast-break layup by the talented freshman guard Middleton.

Fugure finally got Woonsocket going with two free throws. Brayboy actually had the hot-hand early for the visitors, scoring seven points in their go-ahead spree on a free throw and two 3-pointers. Her second triple gave the Novans a 13-10 lead just past the mid-point of the period.

Middleton scored another of her hoops after picking a pocket and going back the other way for a layup to bring Barrington to within one. From there, however, Fugere began to take over. She started out by pulling up for a 10-foot jumper. She then drove to the goal twice and put back a miss. When she scored again on a free throw, Woonsocket’s lead reached double figures (24-14) for the first time with 2:40 to go before the break.

Two Coleman foul shots were all the Eagles scored during the span. Grecia Restituyo’s rebound put-back later accounted for Barrington lone field goal in the latter part of the period, but Fugere struck again with another put-back of her own with just four seconds to go before half-time.

The Eagles again started quickly to begin the second. Coleman converted consecutive steals for layups to cut their deficit to six. Woonsocket answered with a pair of buckets to rebuild its cushion, but Barrington kept coming.

The Eagles continued to score and their pressure defense began to force the Novans into more and more mistakes. Woonsocket only held off Barrington because of Fugere, who made shots at opportune times. Her bucket with just over three minutes to go built the visitors’ lead back to 10 (46-36) and seemingly gave them some breathing room, but that wasn’t the case.

Middleton started the Eagles’ final response by draining a trey from the corner. Kelty then drove for a hoop. Fugere’s layup with a little less than two to go proved Woonsocket’s last points of the night.

O’Hayer next made three of four free throws to make it 48-44 Novans. Kelty got the rebound of O’Hayer’s last miss and drove to the basket. There was contact, but no foul call and the ball went back over to Woonsocket.

Barrington fouled to get the Novans into the bonus and they missed the front end of a one-and-one with 14 seconds left. Coleman sank a layup with about 10 to go to cut the lead to a pair. Woonsocket missed another front end with 3.8 left. The Eagles got the rebound, but didn’t get a shot off before the final buzzer.

Barrington is back in action Monday night, Feb. 6, opposite D-II Rogers in Newport for a non-league game at 7 p.m. The Eagles return to I-North play against Bay View on the road next Friday night, Feb. 10. Woonsocket’s next game is also against Bay View. They host the Bengals Tuesday night, Feb. 7, at 7 o’clock.

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Bay View wins again

Speaking of the Bengals, Bay View improved to 13-0 in Division I-North outings after easily defeating St. Raphael, 56-33, Thursday night. Rachel Battista led the locals with 15 points. Johanna Dombrowski added 10 and also dished out seven assists.