EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School girls’ basketball team closed out its 2022-23 Division I season over the last few weeks, winning two of their final four games to finish with a 3-15 record in league games.

The Townies had their second, two-game win streak of the winter, earning back-to-back victories on the road in Westerly by a 55-53 score on February 4 then getting past visiting Scituate 30-25 in their next outing on February 7.

East Providence needed to hang on during its trip to the southwest corner of the state, seeing their 36-17 halftime lead shrink to 45-36 at the end of three before the host Bulldogs ran out of steam in the fourth. Mya Lambert paced the Townies with 19 points.

In the win at home over the Spartans, the Townies led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter, 14-2 at intermission and 23-12 at the end of three. Lambert was top scorer for the locals with 13 points. East Providence saw its mark move to 2-13 at the time.

The Townies closed last week with a 59-46 loss to host Portsmouth in another D-I outing. The Patriots improved to 9-6 with the victory as they sought to improve their seeding in the upcoming league playoffs.

Earlier this week, EPHS finished off its ’22-23 campaign by hosting LaSalle at Ramos Gymnasium Monday night, Feb. 13, when the visiting Rams rolled to a 68-32 victory. LaSalle finished its league slate with a 14-4 record and will be among the top seeds in next week’s D-I championship tournament.

The Townies acknowledged their two graduating seniors prior to the contest, Ahmya Ingram and Hailee Manteiga, who played their final high school games. Manteiga, with a broken finger in a splint, started and was allowed to score an uncontested bucket before being removed from the game. Ingram did not tally a point in her last outing.

Manteiga’s hoop actually gave EPHS what proved its lone lead of the night. The Rams hit a 3-pointer on their first possession to take the lead. The guests, with their starters playing most of the opening eight minutes, eventually finished the quarter comfortably up by 28-11 count.

LaSalle would only increase its advantage from there. The Rams held a 39-15 lead at the half and ended the third quarter ahead 56-21.

Lambert scored seven of East Providence’s first half points then added 10 more after the break to finish with a team-best 17. Estrella D’ambra made a pair of second half 3s and wound with eight total for the night. Angelina Tavares and Denelle Solano Guerrero had a bucket apiece while Kyora Harley-Hayes made a free throw to account for the rest of the EPHS points.

The Townies struggled in their first season once again playing in the state’s top tier. East Providence ended the winter with a 5-16 overall mark. The highlight for the Townies was winning next-door neighbor Providence Country Day School’s holiday tournament with wins over Tiverton and the host Knights on consecutive days during the Christmas recess.

— East Providence Post and eastbayri.com contributing photographer Julie Furtado shot the accompanying gallery of photos.