The Barrington High School girls basketball team sprinted out to a 20-9 first quarter lead against Cranston West and relied on stifling defense for all four quarters, battling to a 46-35 victory on Tuesday night, Jan. 24.

Barrington Coach Stephen Lenz was proud of his team’s defensive effort; the Eagles played tough defense throughout the game and forced three turnovers on shot-clock violations by the Falcons. 

“That’s what we’ve been consistently talking about. We’re only giving up 40 points a game right now. I talk to the girls about that — that’s got to be our identity, that’s what we have to rely on, because in the playoffs if you don’t make shots you’ve got to be able to defend. That’s what we did tonight. We held them to 35. That’s great,” Lenz said. 

“Maybe we took our foot off the gas pedal a little bit in the second half, but the kids played hard. We played a lot of kids tonight, which was a good opportunity to see some other kids play and perform out there. It doesn’t really matter what you win by, you just get the W.”

Barrington took a commanding lead in the first quarter — the Eagles’ offense was paced by Maddie Gill, Janaya Prince-Baquero and Lindsey Lemay. Gill and Prince-Baquero scored eight points each in the first quarter, including a pair of three-pointers each, while Lemay added four points.

“I thought the first quarter was great,” Lenz said. “This team (Cranston West), historically, has given us fits because they’re so physical.”

The Eagles increased their advantage in the second quarter. Prince-Baquero opened with a basket and then made a nice pass to Chloe Rouleau for an easy score on a fast-break. Barrington then opened a 15-point lead, 26-11, with five minutes remaining in the first half. 

The Eagles went up 30-14 when Isys Dunphy took a pass at half-court, drove to the basket and slashed past a defender for a layup. Barrington led 31-16 at the break.

But the Eagles’ offense went cold in the second half. After an early basket by Lemay, the Falcons went on a mini-run and cut the lead to 10 points. West made it 34-25 on a three-pointer with about 1:20 remaining in the quarter. 

But strong defense by the Eagles allowed the home team to maintain a healthy lead, and with time running down in the third quarter, Prince-Baquero stepped back and drilled a long three-pointer to give Barrington a 37-25 edge.

“She’s a little spark plug out there,” Lenz said of Prince-Baquero. “This was one of her better games tonight. She hits big shots in big situations. She’s done it all year for us. In a bunch of games that were close, two- or three-point games, she comes down and either attacks strong or she can hit a three. When she’s got both going on, she’s tough to stop.”

Barrington scored five straight points to start the fourth quarter — Emma Johnson scored inside and Prince-Baquero knocked down another three-pointer. 

“We did pretty good,” said Prince-Baquero. “We were working as a team, passing the ball around. We were playing good together — teamwork. They (Falcons) were playing great D. We just had to move the ball around.”

Dunphy stepped up with four points in the fourth quarter, two coming off a nice assist by Riley Graveline.  

Meanwhile, the Eagles’ defense clamped down on the Falcons and forced a third shot-clock violation. 

Prince-Baquero finished the game with 16 points and Gill scored 10. Lemay added seven, Dunphy scored six, and Rouleau finished with three. Johnson and Olivia Morrissette each had two points to round out the Eagles’ scoring. Barrington improved to 9-3 with the win.