By ED OWENS

Sports Editor

Warwick Vets' season was hanging in the balance and the Hurricanes knew it. Trailing 26-16 to Central at halftime of last week's regular season finale, Vets' girls' basketball team had two options: win or go home.

The 'Canes didn't go home.

Led by the combined effort of juniors Caroline Hurd and Ashley Jamieson, Vets rallied to crush Central in the second half, outscoring the Knights 37-17, and came away with a 53-43 win. Hurd scored 15 of her game-high 23 points after halftime and Jamieson added eight of her own after the break to lead the charge.

"The late rally in the second half was all Caroline Hurd and Ashley Jamieson," Vets coach Owen Paquet said. "Those two really picked up the pace. It was unbelievable. They played so hard in the second half and that is how I know they can play. They showed that they had a lot of heart."

And while Hurd and Jamieson led the team in scoring, it was their combined effort on the defensive end that tipped the scales in Vets' favor. The 'Canes forced 15 turnovers in the first half but Central forced 17 and held the lead at halftime. Using an aggressive press, Vets forced 16 turnovers in the first eight minutes of the second half alone.

Central continued to buckle under Vets' press and committed 10 more turnovers in the half, finishing with 41 in the game, and the 'Canes seized the opportunity to use their transition game to put the game out of reach.

"We made Central struggle," Paquet said. "We made a few adjustments at halftime and they turned it up another notch. We denied the entry pass and turned it around with the full court pressure that we gave them. [Hurd and Jamieson] combined for multiple steals and we used that to score a lot of easy baskets on them."

Vets' defensive pressure was so suffocating in the second half that the Knights managed just two field goals heading into the final minute of play. The 'Canes opened the half on a 24-6 run and still managed to win by 10 despite scoring just once over the final three minutes.

Thursday's contest marked Senior Night for Vets, which honored its three seniors, Michaela Salois, Ashley Lamphere and Casey Doyle before the game. The trio combined to score 12 points in the game, but their biggest feat may have been that all three managed to foul out in the same two-minute stretch late in the second half.

"I knew that I had to bring my seniors out to get a standing ovation, so I guess they made my job a little easier," Paquet joked. "But they played hard and all of those were hustle fouls, which are the best kinds of fouls. That is the way that this game should be played."

With the win Vets improved to 7-10 in Division II and pulled into a tie with Central and Narragansett, creating a pair of play-in games for the final playoff slot.

Despite posting a 2-0 record over the Knights in the regular season, the two teams were scheduled to meet again on Monday night with the winner advancing to take on the Mariners tonight. The winner of that game will advance to take on top-ranked Scituate [15-3] on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

"We are very confident," Paquet said before Monday's game. "We are looking forward to playing Central again. We can pull off a victory if we can stay focused. We have our system down and the girls have bought into it. Hopefully we can keep our winning streak going and the Central game will be a good warm-up for Narragansett on Tuesday night."

While the 'Canes are 2-0 against the Knights this year, Vets did not fare as well in its only meeting with Narragansett. The Mariners posted a 48-16 win over the 'Canes in the season-opening Injury Fund game in early December.

"We were a young team at the beginning of year, but we are really starting to come together," Paquet said. "When we played Narragansett in the Injury Fund, the girls were still getting to know me and my system. Narragansett gave us an eye-opening defeat then and it would be a good challenge to go back down there to try and get into the playoffs. Hopefully they see us as a team to reckon with."