Two Lady Knights named NJCAA All-Americans

Posted 12/12/13

The CCRI Lady Knights soccer season recently game to an end, but the team garnered two more awards for their excellent campaign. Two of their captains recently were named National Junior College …

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Two Lady Knights named NJCAA All-Americans

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The CCRI Lady Knights soccer season recently game to an end, but the team garnered two more awards for their excellent campaign. Two of their captains recently were named National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-Americans –midfielder Betti Worth (Bolton, England) earned NJCAA First team All-American honors and goalkeeper Alex Place (East Greenwich) earned NJCAA Second team honors.

“Coach Bannan and I are so proud of Betti and Alex regarding their NJCAA All-American selections,” said CCRI head coach Dennis Grassini. “They are both quality student-athletes both on the field and in the classroom. They have been excellent team captains and hard workers and both are respected by their teammates and coaches. Their All-American selection just proves that success is no accident, you need to work for it and they did.”

Worth earned All-Region XXI honors this season for the second straight year. Worth recently added a NSCAA All-North Region honor to go with her two All-Region XXI honors. She was a key component in the Lady Knights’ midfield with 22 points on eight goals and six assists. 

“Betti always came to play each game and she was a dominant player in the midfield or on defense when she was needed,” Grassini said. “She possesses a tremendous amount of talent and she plays like she practiced, hard all of the time.” 

She had 39 points in just 29 games for the last two seasons.

Place also earned All-Region XXI honors for the second consecutive year, and along with Worth earned her NSCAA All-North Region honor to go along with it. She authored six shutouts with an impressive 1.23 goals against average with 115 total saves to lead Region XXI. For her career, Place had 12 shutouts, which ranks her sixth all time at CCRI.  

“Alex was very solid in goal for us the last two seasons playing in every single game,” Grassini said. “In 36 total contests she had a GAA of 1.30. She is a quality goalkeeper that always kept our team in the game. Alex is a very organized individual that always gave everything she had for the team. When there was a community service team effort she always took the lead. That is just the kind of person she is, giving back first.”

Also earning an award was sophomore captain Paige Oram, who was named All-Region XXI and NSCAA All-North Region for the second consecutive year.  

She scored 28 points on 11 goals and six assists. Most importantly she did it when it mattered late in the season. In her last five games as a Lady Knights she scored nine goals and added an assist.

“Paige started just about every game as a freshman and a sophomore,” Grassini said. “She chipped in with some very timely goals this past season, the biggest coming in the District semifinals against Monroe CC.”

No. 14 Lady Knights fall to Dean

 

The No. 14 CCRI Lady Knights basketball team hosted the Bulldogs of Dean College for a Region XXI league game on Thursday. The Lady Knights lost to Dean 61-51. With the loss, the Lady Knights fell to 7-1 on the season, 2-1 in Region XXI and 0-1 in the conference. Dean improved to 9-1 on the season, 4-0 in Region and 1-0 in the conference.    

The Lady Knights quickly fell behind the Bulldogs 10-0 just four minutes into the game. However, CCRI battled back in the first half and took its first lead 27-26 with four minutes left on a jump shot from Jess Patalano (Exeter). The Lady Knights extended their lead to four points at 30-26 on a three-pointer by Lindsay Danise (Danbury, Conn.) with about two minutes left, but the Bulldogs were able to tie the game 30-30 by the halftime break. 

In the second half, Dean took an early lead and was able to extend that lead to 10 points 47-37 with 13 minutes remaining.  The Lady Knights battled through foul trouble to cut the lead to just four points 55-51 with just 2:13 remaining. But Dean was able to answer the CCRI charge to score the game’s final six points to win.

Leading the way for the Lady Knights was Danise with a team-high 16 points including four three-pointers on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc, with four rebounds and a steal. Also helping CCRI was captain Allexia Barros (New Bedford, Mass.) with 13 points, six assists and five rebounds. Amber Edwards (Boston) had eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds while Jesse Ossian (Chandler, Ariz.) battled foul trouble but added six points, seven rebounds and four assists.    

The next games for the Lady Knights will be this weekend when they travel to Batavia, N.Y. to compete in the Genesee CC Holiday Tournament. 

Knights fall to No. 6 Dean

 

The CCRI Knights men’s basketball team hosted the No. 6 Bulldogs of Dean College from Franklin, Mass. for a Region XXI Division II conference showdown at the Cullen Fieldhouse on Thursday. After a close first half, Dean out-scored CCRI 51-37 in the second half to earn a 94-81 victory. With the loss, CCRI’s record dropped to 8-3 overall, 5-2 in Region XXI and 1-1 in the conference. The Bulldogs kept their undefeated season alive, improving to 11-0.

The Knights got down early, trailing 17-7 just five minutes into the game. Dean held a 12-point lead with 11:02 remaining in the half leading 27-15, But the Knights used aggressive defense to get back into the game and tie it at 32-32 with five minutes remaining in the half on a steal and fast break layup by Billy Soriano (Providence). Both teams battled back-and-forth until the Knights took a 44-43 lead into the halftime break.

Unfortunately the Knights were unable to sustain their intensity and Dean turned up its own level of play to dominate the second half. The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 11 points 66-55 halfway through the half and were able to sustain that lead with aggressive defense and offense. In the end, the Bulldogs were able to pull away and win by the final score of 94-81.    

Leading the way for CCRI was Anthony Jernigan (East Hartford, Conn.) with 23 points, four assists and two steals.  Also having a big game for CCRI was captain Pat Marchand (Cranston, RI) with 16 points and five rebounds. Kevin Marmolejos (Queens, N.Y.) had 10 points, and Soriano added eight points and four rebounds. Dean had four players score in double figures, led by former St. Raphael star Charles Correa’s 18, including 16 in the second half.

The next game for the Knights will be this weekend when they travel to Batavia, N.Y. to play in the Genesee Community College Holiday Tournament. On Saturday, they will face the Cougars of Genesee CC at 8 p.m. and Sunday they will face Niagara CC at 1 p.m.   

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