Lady Titans fall in match-up with Woonsocket

By RYAN D. MURRAY
Posted 2/6/20

By RYAN D. MURRAY The Lady Titans were walloped 48-22 on Tuesday night by the Woonsocket Villa Novans at Toll Gate High School during a Girls Division III Basketball showdown. Woonsocket was led by freshmen guards Nevaeh Caro and Isabella Mencarini, who

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Lady Titans fall in match-up with Woonsocket

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The Lady Titans were walloped 48-22 on Tuesday night by the Woonsocket Villa Novans at Toll Gate High School during a Girls Division III Basketball showdown.

Woonsocket was led by freshmen guards Nevaeh Caro and Isabella Mencarini, who scored 12 points apiece.

Toll Gate was topped by its senior point guard Natalie Aloisio, who totaled 11 points, while Sam Bertrand added four points, 14 rebounds, and five blocks.

Woonsocket leaped out to an early 5-0 advantage after Abigail Desjardin sank a baseline floater, and then Tianna Carpentier a 3-pointer.

Toll Gate evened the score at 5, a minute and a half later, when Aloisio answered with a corner trey before Meghan Merrow assisted inside to Bertrand for a layup.

However, the Novans went on a 10-0 spurt after that and took a 15-5 lead.

The Lady Titans ended that surge when Aloisio buried a 3-pointer, plus two free throws, and that cut the Toll Gate deficit to five with 4:46 left in the first half.

Aloisio drilled her third 3-pointer of the half with 12 seconds remaining, and it got the Lady Titans within 17-13 as the teams headed into halftime.

“We looked like we were jelling somewhat in the first half,” Toll Gate head coach Owen Paquet said. “It was nice to see. We struggle with putting two halves together. That’s always been our problem. I thought it would be a little better with the season coming to an end, with four more games left, but it was nice to see the girls actually connect and have chemistry in the first half.”

A minute and 20 seconds into the second half, Woonsocket’s Rushie Vilane drained a 3-pointer, and then Caro stole the ball and made a layup, which gave the Novans a 22-13 lead and forced Toll Gate to take an early time out.

And from there, it only got worse.

Woonsocket’s Mencarini started a 19-0 run with a slashing layup, with seven minutes to play, and that ballooned the Novans buffer to 48-20.

In total, the Novans outscored the Lady Titans 31-9 in the second half.

“The outlet passes were getting stolen,” Paquet said. “Woonsocket had some quick girls and we just played too quickly. We need to slow down our offense and outlet passes, and then push when we need to push, and settle the offense down. But I have to give Woonsocket credit on that, they did a great job.”

With five seconds to play, Toll Gate senior Kaylah Staknis sank the last bucket of the game and it inched the Lady Titans within 48-22.

With the defeat, the Lady Titans fell to 5-7 in the league, while the Novans improved to 10-2. Toll Gate traveled to Central Falls (2-9) on Wednesday evening in hopes to get back in the win column. That score was unavailable at press time.

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