Shea goes into Open as underdog No. 13 Raiders face off with No. 4 Quakers
PAWTUCKET – Despite the fact Shea High sustained a bitter 54-30 loss to Wheeler School in the R.I. Division III Tournament championship final at Rhode Island College on Saturday, head coach John Lickert and his girls seemed in a rather upbeat, collective mood at practice Monday afternoon.
They had returned to “The Cage” to prepare for the R.I. Open Tournament, as the 13th-seeded Raiders will take on No. 4 Moses Brown in the “Sweet 16” segment of the event tonight at 7:30 at RIC’s Murray Center.
“We really don’t have anything to lose; Moses Brown won the state (D-II) title last year, and this year, they went 14-4 in Division I,” he stated. “They play the best teams in the state night-in and night-out, and they can recruit kids. We can’t. They have five really good players at least, and another five who can come in off the bench and produce. Maybe two of our girls could even make that team.
“They have size and speed and play more physically than what we see in DIII, but we’re still going to go out there and try to do the best we can with what we’ve got, just like we did against Wheeler,” he added. “We have to get back on defense, we have to rebound and – first and foremost – put the ball in the basket.”
The latter proved very difficult during the title tilt opposite the Warriors, who utilized a full-court press to force Shea (18-7 overall) a whopping 36 turnovers. It also missed several easy buckets.
“On Saturday, we were ice cold the last six minutes of the first half,” when Wheeler mustered a 13-1 surge in a minimal span of 4:46 to turn an 11-7 lead into a massive 24-8 cushion. “We played a lot better in the second half, so I guess you could say we’ve learned a lesson.
“You can’t have that kind of lapse and have a chance at winning; we’re going to have to play a full 32 minutes. When you suffer that kind of letdown, you’re going to pay in the end, and we did.”
The Quakers (16-5 overall) are led by multi-talented junior center/forward Oluchi Ezemma, one of their quadcaptains.
“That girl is a Division I or Division II college player, she’s that good,” Lickert stated of Ezemma. “She’s extremely athletic, as she can rebound and shoot the ball, but she’s a really good passer, too. She makes that team a lot better.”
Other top-notch players include quad-captains Jessica Rylander (junior guard); Caroline Veale (senior guard); and Victoria Caruolo (senior guard), not to mention freshman Morgan Plouffe, sophomores Victoria Matson and Brooke Bender, junior center Caitlin Tucker and frosh Jessica Kelly.
When Lickert mentions his club must rebound to stand a chance, he’s referring to freshman Yasmine Santos and sophomore Denesha Lomba, the lone Raider in double digits (12 points) during the blowout to Wheeler.
Lickert nevertheless is keeping things light in preparatory sessions.
“Hey, based on the seedings, we finished as the 13th best team in the state, which is pretty darn good considering we’re a D-III team,” he said. “I told the girls that they should be proud of themselves for making it as far as they did. This season, we will have gone to four playoff games, and – last year – we went to one.
“That says about this team.” something