Barrington coach: Eagles enter season with strong backcourt

Stephen Lenz and the BHS girls basketball team host Ponaganset on Thursday night

BY MANUEL C. “MANNY” CORREIRA
Posted 12/3/18

In a town known for its basketball success, the Barrington High School girls’ basketball team has done nothing to tarnish that reputation. And, a lot of it stems from the dedicated tutelage of …

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Barrington coach: Eagles enter season with strong backcourt

Stephen Lenz and the BHS girls basketball team host Ponaganset on Thursday night

Posted

In a town known for its basketball success, the Barrington High School girls’ basketball team has done nothing to tarnish that reputation. And, a lot of it stems from the dedicated tutelage of its head coach, Stephen Lenz.

Over a 20-year span, the high flying Eagles have been recognized as one of the best teams in the state, year after year, and Coach Lenz’s 374-115 overall record, including playoffs, substantiates that fact.

“I’ve been fortunate to have a number of great players over the years,” he said. “We’ve always been competitive.”

For the record, Barrington High girls’ basketball, since Coach Lenz took over the reins in 1999, has produced six Division II and six Division I regular season championships, as well as two state Division II titles. After moving up to Division I in 2009, the Eagles won two more Division I state tournament championships.

Barrington captured state titles in 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and a Division I state title in 2016-2017. They’re overall playoff record is 36-12.

But all of this recent success wasn’t the case when Coach Lenz took over the program in 1999.

“We weren’t great during those first four years and got off to a rough start,” he recalled. “But we got better as time went on.”

Hard work and dedication always reaps rewards, and that’s what happened in 2003-2004, when the Eagles raced to an 18-2 East Division championship after four consecutive losing seasons. They ended up 26-3 overall that year and finished second to Exeter-West Greenwich in the state finals.

For the Blue & Gold to continue on its road to prosperity, they’ll have to do it as a smaller, but still very respectable team this season.

“I have a good backcourt,” said Coach Lenz, referring to senior Olivia Middleton and junior Cary Heterick. “Our backcourt can compete with any in the state. That’s one of our strengths.”

Losing first team All-Stater and top scorer Andrea Kubas-Meyer to graduation will hurt to some degree, but the Eagles will still have some firepower in the form of senior three-point shooter Alex Marinelli, and top-rated freshman Grace Ceseretti, one of the star performers on last year’s Barrington Middle School team.

“Grace is recovering from torn meniscus knee surgery, and hopefully, she’ll be back around the first of the year,” said the coach.

This year, Barrington will also have some other outstanding players, including juniors Elizabeth McConaghy, Alexis Malnurich, and Bridget Flaherty, seniors Jenna Park and Zahra Beers, and sophomores Lea Rouleau and Nina Gibbons.

Also on the roster are junior Mikaya Lane, sophomore Leila Beers, and freshmen Jane Small, Sarah Jaglar, Sophia Richardson, Hailey Walter, Sydney Mecca, Alessandra Jarret, and Hadley Johnston.

“There are still a lot of question marks,” said Coach Lenz. “We’ll be an up-tempo team. We’ll be quick, but small, and we’ll have to play good defense and be able to rebound. Consistency is the key. It’s a relatively inexperienced team.”

Early season games this week are against Ponaganset on Thursday, Dec. 6, at Barrington High School, at 7 p.m., and Monday, Dec. 10, against St. Andrew’s School, at St. Andrew’s, at 6:30 p.m.

Steve Lenz, a Barrington High School English teacher, knows how to win. Being an assistant coach on the Barrington football team under successful head coaches like Bill McCagney and Sandy Gorham certainly has added to his resume, but in the two decades he’s served as the head coach of Barrington girls’ basketball, Coach Lenz has created his own identity. This year will be another challenge, a challenge he hopes to transform into another winning campaign.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.