Turnovers doom BVP against Central
PROVIDENCE – First-year coach Jackie Greaves could have stated the obvious after her Blackstone Valley Prep squad dropped a 50-23 Division III blowout loss to Central High at the Providence Career & Technical Academy fieldhouse late Friday afternoon.
That is, the Pride was overmatched in experience, size, talent, etc., but none of that seemed to faze her.
Greaves only looked for continued improvement from her young group, and she indicated she saw it firsthand.
“It was an ugly game with all the turnovers (32 for BVP, 27 for the Knights), but there were a lot of positives to take from this,” she stated after her club fell to 0-4 overall and 0-3 in D-III action. “First, our conditioning had been weak, but we were able to get up and down the court more easily, with more speed.
“Second, our collective attitude has improved; we had a couple of ladies bickering at each other during the course of play over the past couple of games, but that’s been nipped in the bud,” she added. “And, lastly, I’d also say we did a much better job offensively in this one that the last one (against Burrillville), when we only scored four.
“Like I said, we’re young and inexperienced for the most part, but we keep plugging. In fact, I thought our bench was great (Friday); the girls were cheering each other on. You know, we had six girls who were aca- demically ineligible before the start of the season, and all six have got their grades up and are now eligible.
“The problem is I just can’t play them yet because second-quarter grades haven’t been posted yet.”
No one reached double digits for the Pride, though junior point guard Sole Miranda registered seven points and four steals, while freshman Maddax Zednik planted six and classmate Jenett Sosa five more points.
Senior Dalayisha Moore managed only one point but contributed eight rebounds, four steals and three assists, while junior Nia Vanstroy added five boards, fivye thefts and two assists; and senior Janasiti DaSilva a bucket, four rebounds and two steals.
For Central (3-2 overall, 2-1 league), senior standout Jada Burton put on a show, notching a tilt-high 21 points with seven boards, five thefts and two blocks. Other key contributors included sophomore Mashiya Mangum (eight points, nine assists); sophomore Ze-harra Cook (seven points, four rebounds despite playing perhaps six minutes in the final session); and sophomore Breyana Lafargue (four points).
Not surprisingly, Burton scored the first six points before Miranda’s two free throws sliced the deficit to 6-2 just 2:22 into the contest, but that’s when the hosts began to roll. Lafargue hit a four-foot jumper at the 13:26 mark, and that sparked an 11-0 flurry for the Knights over the next 6:09.
Central, in fact, didn’t allow BVP it’s first field goal until DaSilva dropped a running one-hander with 6:37 remaining before intermission, making it 19-4 at that juncture.
And, 91 ticks after that, the Knights had assembled another 8-0 run for the 27-4 cushion, though the Pride did manage a brief 6-2 surge in the span of 2:52 to cut it to 29-10 with 2:14 left.
Central nevertheless took a 31-10 lead into the break, then came out and recorded a 15-2 run in the first 5:52 of the half to break it open at 46-12. Naturally, Burton had six in the flurry and Cook seven, including a trey that made it that aforementioned score at 10:08.
“BVP is a really young team, that I knew, but I didn’t think we’d win the game beforehand,” Vin Scandura stated later. “I mean, we lost to them last year, and we’re still trying to figure out who we are. We missed the playoffs last year by a game, but we were bringingb everybody back. I didn’t know if we had improved or not, but I know somep of them played over the summer.”
He also replaced his starters with several JV players and substitutes before the second stanza was three minutes old.
“We made too many turnovers, but those came with the younger kids in,” he said.
BLACKSTONE VALLEY PREP (23) – Maddax Zednik 3 0-0 6, Sole Miranda 2 3-4 7, Janasiti DaSilva 1 0-0 2, Dalayisha Moore 0 1-2 1, Jenett Sosa 2 1-1 5, Nia Vanstroy 1 0-0 2, Paige Williamson 0 0-0 0; totals 9 5-7 23.
b CENTRAL (50) – Jada Burton 10 0-1 21, Leira Aviles 1 0-0 2, Mashiya Mangum 4 0-0 8, Breyana Lafargue 2 0-0 4, Ana Torres 1 0-0 2, Nhachay Tejada 1 0-2 2, Macenzya Melvin 2 0-0 4, Ze-harra Cook 3 0-0 7, Dilana Morel 0 0-2 0, Tyniece Hedges 0 0-0 0, Gismel Feliz 0 0-0 0; totals 24 0-5 60.
Three-point field goals: Burton, Cook.
Halftime: Central, 31-10.
b sey Farrell scored a couple of buckets to tie the game at 17. Farrell, who scored a team-high 16 points, and Emily Lambrou played well, according to Coderre. Lambrou scored 11 points and Molly Rebelo added 10 for the Clippers, who face Chariho Tuesday night.
WEST WARWICK (65) Jordan Rajotte 1 0-0 2, Skyla Me
p deiros 3 3-4 9, Kayla Kozlin 1 0-2 2, Kalen Greenhalgh 4 4-4 12, Kayla Sadler 3 0-0 6, Tori Bird 8 1-3 20, Alexia Ledo 3 0-0 6, Kelsey Karsh 1 4-6 6, Zola Greeko 1 0-0 2, totals 25 12-19 65.
CUMBERLAND (52) Molly Rebelo 2 4-7 10, Casey Farrell 7 0-0 16, Emily Lambrou 5 0-0 11, Madison Zancan 1 0-1 2, Juliette Vemmer 1 1-2 3, Morgan Vinacco 3 2-2 8, Bella Luca 1 0-0 2, Lily Lachance 0 0-0 0, Abby LaRose 0 0-0 0, Abby Vallely 0 0-0 0, Riley Trudeau, totals 20 7-10 52. Halftime – Cumberland, 30- 28.