’Canes run away from Pats in OT

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 1/26/16

Following Warwick Vets’ game against Narragansett last Tuesday, head coach Owen Paquet said that Friday’s matchup with Pilgrim would be the “biggest game of the year.”

And his team …

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’Canes run away from Pats in OT

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Following Warwick Vets’ game against Narragansett last Tuesday, head coach Owen Paquet said that Friday’s matchup with Pilgrim would be the “biggest game of the year.”

And his team certainly played like it, forcing overtime before outscoring the Pats 13-4 in the extra period to come away with a 43-34 victory.

Two free throws by Hannah Page with 58 seconds to go in regulation gave Pilgrim a 30-28 lead, but Vets would respond, with Emma Nason dishing to a cutting Kat Raposo for an easy layup on the ensuing possession to send the game to overtime tied at 30.

Nason would finish with a game-high 13 points, but most of those points came at the most critical time, as she netted eight of Vets’ 13 points in overtime to help outpace visiting Pilgrim.

“Emma was a quality player today – this is the best I’ve seen her play,” Paquet said. “She was really pumped for the Pilgrim rivalry, being the only senior that was starting. She has really upped her game since she was a freshman, and she came out and played hard. It was nice to see.”

The win snapped a three-game skid for the ’Canes (7-6).

“We were competing in the other games this week, but struggled with execution,” Paquet said. “Tonight, they executed better and it was nice to see them come together with the nucleus – some serious chemistry was happening, especially on the defensive end.”

On the Pilgrim side, Pats’ head coach Scott Bayha wasn’t pleased with the effort, feeling like his team let an opportunity slip away.

“This was a horrible game, worst we’ve played all year,” Bayha said. “I think we’re capable of much more, we didn’t run our offense. Defensively, we played good, but we have to come back from this because this isn’t where we pictured ourselves getting to.”

Both teams really struggled shooting the ball in the opening half, combining for just 20 points with Vets taking a slim, 11-9, lead into the break.

Nylon was found more frequently in the second half, though.

And it didn’t take long for Pilgrim to tie the game and then take a lead.

Just over two and a half minutes into the second half, Alexia Martins collected an offensive rebound and was fouled on her put-back attempt. She would sink both free throws to tie the game at 13.

A minute later, Martins put Pilgrim up with a 3-pointer, 16-13, giving the Pats their first lead since leading 3-2 in the opening minutes.

Overall, Pilgrim would stretch its lead out to 19-13 with a 10-0 run.

But Vets wasn’t ready to go away quietly.

Caitlyn Fallon ended the run with a turnaround jumper in the paint to cut Vets’ deficit to four.

A few minutes later, Mackenzie Hough made a layup, before draining a 3-pointer to trim Pilgrim’s lead to 22-20.

With 4:08 left, Hough continued her hot shooting with another 3 that put Vets back in front, 25-23.

And Destinee Charette added on to that lead less than a minute later, when she drilled a 3-pointer of her own to make it 28-23 in favor of Vets.

Then, Pilgrim’s veteran leadership showed up.

Martins converted a transition layup and Kendra Tantimonico made one of two free throws to cut the Pats’ deficit to two, before Erin Plowman tied the game at 28 with a layup after a key offensive rebound.

Pilgrim regained the lead on Page’s pair of free throws with 58 seconds to go, but Raposo came up clutch with the layup off a pass from Nason to extend the game.

Martins scored the first three points in overtime, but after that, it was all Vets.

It would put together a 13-1 run to end the game, behind eight points from Nason, four from Fallon and a free throw from Raposo to ice the game.

Fallon posted another double-double, falling just a block shy of a triple-double with 12 points, 16 rebounds and nine blocks.

For Pilgrim, Tantimonico scored a team-high 12 points and Martins added 11.

The Pats (5-4) were looking to get back on track on Monday at Toll Gate for a non-league matchup, but results were unavailable at press time. They’ll travel to Narragansett on Wednesday night for a 6 p.m. tip.

“There’s not one of my girls that thinks they played well today, they’re all capable of better basketball, and they will play better basketball,” Bayha said.

The ’Canes will be looking to ride the momentum from their win over Pilgrim into Thursday night, when they host Shea at 7 p.m.

“Luckily, we play at Toll Gate, but the rest are home games,” Paquet said. “Of course they were pumped up for the intra-city game tonight, it’s the other games where we need to bring this focus and execution to. If we do that, we should finish out the season quite well.”

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