The top-seeded Pilgrim girls basketball team picked up a 42-37 win over visiting North Smithfield in the Division III Quarterfinals on Monday night.

Senior Gianna Ramos continued to impress for Pilgrim, leading the way with 15 points and dominating the paint throughout. Amaya Coffie also scored 11 points while Faith Meade added nine in the win.

Despite a slow start in which the Pats put up only eight points in the first quarter, the offense would find its rhythm and take over down the stretch to roll to the win. Pilgrim’s defense, which has been among the best in the division, also stepped up to slow down the Northmen from start to finish.

“We started off slow as we always do. Our offense is starting to come around and our defense stepped up and helped us big time. Early on, our shots just weren’t falling,” said Pilgrim coach Kaitlyn Rachiele, who was thrilled with her key players stepping up. “(Ramos) dominated the boards once again for us, she had a bunch of key put backs and was near perfect at the line. Amaya came up huge, her defense and finishing layups helped us tremendously. Faith contributed in scoring, too.”

Pilgrim next faced Exeter-West Greenwich in the semifinals, who they split the regular season series with. The game was played in Cumberland on Wednesday night, but the results were not available at press time.

Division III has been a dog fight all season long, and Rachiele believes it will take a team-wide performance to continue to roll and make a push for a championship this weekend.

“We have to dig in and get the job done. We still have a target on our back and we have got to play the game that we know how to play,” said Rachiele. “These teams are all here for a reason, they’re all very good teams, but if all five of our girls on the court play their best, it’s going to be hard to beat us. Everybody’s got to show up.”