East Providence bests Mount St. Charles in girls’ hoops playoff opener

Townies move onto quarterfinals with seven-point win over Mounties

By Mathew Galvao
Posted 2/19/18

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School girls’ basketball team topped visiting Mount St. Charles, 47-40, on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 17, in preliminary round of the Division II …

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East Providence bests Mount St. Charles in girls’ hoops playoff opener

Townies move onto quarterfinals with seven-point win over Mounties

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School girls’ basketball team topped visiting Mount St. Charles, 47-40, on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 17, in preliminary round of the Division II championship playoffs. The game came down to the wire where clutch shots from Townie seniors Shaniah Hazard and Lilian Conti helped to seal the win.

“I am so proud of the girls. We put in a new defense. We had more intensity in this game than we’ve had all year,” said East Providence head coach Russ Ferri. “We played a great Mount team, but the fight that the Townies had was probably better than we’ve had all year and that’s what put us through.”

The first half of this game was a battle for both teams. The Townies trailed 11-6 through the first six minutes of the half. Fourth-seeded East Providence scored seven points after trailing to go up 18-17 with 1:30 left in the first half. Both teams headed into the locker room with the Townies up 20-19 after two big free throws were made by Hazard in the final seconds of the half.

East Providence quickly took a five point lead on the Mounties just two minutes into the second half going up 24-19. Mount St. Charles tied things up 26-26 going on a 7-2 run with 9:40 remaining in the contest.

The 13th-seeded Mounties found themselves down seven with 3:39 left in the game as the Townies went on an 11-1 run tightening up defensively and building a 37-30 lead. Conti sank a huge 3-pointer helping the Townies take the lead late. Down 41-40 with 1:11 to go the Mounties also hit a 3 to bring them within one. With seconds to go Hazard nailed another 3 that would ice the game for the home team giving them the 44-40 win.

“I told them we’ll take those three point shots that go off the backboard and go in, but that’s still a result of how well we’re playing on defense,” said Ferri on what he told his team during the last minute of the game. “We talked about being patient...we talked about the fact that we did not need to go into our offense early in the shot clock. They listed and we were able to spread it out and get some big baskets”

Hazard shared game-high scoring honors with Mount’s Kate Lynch, each scoring 16 to lead their teams. Conti had 13 and five steals. Tanya Cooper added eight off the bench for the Townies while Ashley Cassino-Henriquez, usually a substitute guard, had six as part of the EPHS starting backcourt.

“The leadership that we had from Shaniah and Lilian was incredible. When we needed the big shots they were there,” Ferri added. “This was a big win for us. It gives us confidence going into the next round.”

East Providence will now take on the fifth-seed Juanita Sanchez Tuesday night, Feb. 20, at home in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Coach Ferri explained that Tuesday nights game will provide new challenges.

“The first time we played them at Juanita Sanchez it was an all out war. It was almost like a street fight over there,” Ferri said of the Townies’ 60-56 over Juanita Sanchez during the regular season. “They like to pressure you all game long. We gotta really watch out on transition or it could really get away.”

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