Pilgrim too good for N. Smithfield Northmen working to get better for D-III season

NORTH SMITHFIELD — Ariana Stanton knows full well that her North Smithfield High squad is so young and inexperienced, it’s going to have to take baby steps to exhibit any kind of improvement.

That quest started Wednesday night during its season-opening Injury Fund clash with Pilgrim, and she witnessed a lot of bad with a chunk of good mixed in.

First, in a 35-27 loss to the Patriots at the Michael F. Lovett Memorial Gymnasium, her team stumbled to 37 total turnovers. Second, it netted only seven of 16 free throws; and, third, it had gaps of time without scoring.

On the positive side, the Northmen exhibited plenty of pluck and grit, and at least twice battled themselves back into the contest.

“I think we’ve got a lot of work to do,” sighed Stanton after the glorified scrimmage. “The reason for all the turnovers? We’ll panic; we’ll rush and use our energy in all the wrong places. We’ll cluster together, not play our positions, and that’s because we’re very young.

“We only have two seniors, with six sophomores and a freshman on the varsity roster,” she added. “We only have 17 in the entire program, but the good news is that when we pull together and focus, we can actually play defense.”

Kenzie Hough paced the Patriots with 13 points, including nine from Treyland, while Kailey Giarrusso mustered six, Lexi Brown five and Karly Evans four.

For the Northmen, no one reached double figures, though sophomore guard Julia Dias earned nine, and senior Celeste Gambardella, sophomore Alex Ledger and junior Madison Wholey four each.

Thanks to junior guard Alexis DeSimone’s steal and layup with 4.1 seconds left before the break, NS overcame deficits of 7-0 and 16-6 to enter intermission trailing by a scant four, 20-16.

Hough planted a trey just 14 sec-

“We only have 17 in the entire program, but the good news is that when we pull together and focus, we can actually play defense.” – Ariana Stanton

onds into the final session, and that sparked a 10-3 flurry that ended on Hough’s 18- foot gem with 10: 44 remaining in regulation. And, with 7:48 left, Pilgrim grabbed its biggest lead of the game at 35-20 when Alysia Medeiros drained a threeball.

The reason for that surge? The Northmen coughed up four turnovers in the span of 74 seconds.

Again, though, they didn’t quit, despite a whopping 22 forced miscues in the final 16 minutes. In fact, with 2.2 ticks left before the final horn, Dias drove to the bucket and was fouled. She made one of two foul shots for the final tally.

“I don’t have basketball players; I have athletes trying to learn the game of basketball,” Stanton said. “There were times they looked confident on the floor; there were times they looked lost. Those are the times when they’re panicked, but we can remedy that with a lot of repetitions in practice. We need more reps with people in our faces.

“We just need to push each other in practice every day, then we’ll get better.” PILGRIM (35) – Lexi Brown 1 2-3 5, Karly Evans 2 0-2 4, Hannah French 1 0-0 2, Kailey Giarrusso 2 0-0 6, Kenzie Hough 5 0-0 13, Francesca Maroni 1 0-0 2, Alysia Medeiros 1 0-0 3, Tara O’Connor 1 0-1 2; totals 14 2-6 35. NORTH SMITHFIELD (27) – Julia Dias 3 3-5 9, Alexis DeSimone 1 0-0 2, Rachel Ferland 1 0-2 2, Skylar Mette 1 0-2 2, Alex Ledger 2 0-1 4, Celeste Gambardella 2 0-0 4, Madison Wholey 0 4-6 4, Hope Trowbridge 0 0-0 0; totals 10 7-16 27. Three-point field goals: Brown, Giarrusso 2, Hough 3, Medeiros. Halftime: Pilgrim, 20-16.