Defensive clinic
Bousquet, Roman lead Broncos past rival Woonsocket
Defense ruled the day as the Burrillville High girls’ basketball team knocked off Woonsocket on Tuesday night.
BURRILLVILLE — The first half of Tuesday’s Division III girls basketball game between Burrillville and winless Woonsocket went according to form.
Both teams have struggled to score points in each of the last three seasons, so it was no surprise defense dominated, as the Broncos built a four-point advantage at halftime.
Eventually, Karianna Roman (11 points), Kendall Bousquet (nine points) and Alicia Harmon helped the Broncos pull away from the pesky Novans. The Novans only scored four points in the opening 9:30 of the second half, which allowed the Broncos to open up a 13-point advantage in what eventually became a 35-27 victory at the Broncodome.
“In the second half we just relaxed. We haven’t played a game in 10 days [at the Smithfield Boosters tournament], so we had to break off the rust,” Burrillville coach Sam Stanton said. “The mundane of practice every day gets kind of rough, so I was kind of afraid the first half was going to be sloppy. We got it together in the second half.”
Woonsocket (0-4 Division III) has played defense well enough to at least be a .500 team in the division. The Villa Novans have allowed 30, 34. 39 and 35 points in their four league defeats. On the other end of the court, Woonsocket has scored more than 30 points in just one league game.
Tuesday, sophomore guard Taylor Tempest led Woonsocket with 12 points, eight of which came in the first half to keep her team in the game. Jasymn Faberlle and Payton Cahill also delivered baskets.
“We’re doing everything we’re supposed to be doing; we’re playing good defense and we’re contesting shots, but we’re having trouble on the offensive end,” Woonsocket coach Mike Cahill said. “Eventually we’re going to start hitting shots because we have shooters, but they’re just not doing it in the game. We have a disconnect right now.”
Burrillville (3-1 Division III) went into halftime with just a four-point advantage thanks to the play of Bousquet and Roman, but the lead quickly grew in the second half thanks to solid defense and transition offense. With Burrillville holding a 23-17 lead, Jaime Loynds scored in the paint and then Roman hit her second 3-pointer of the evening to stretch the lead out to 11. Harmon added a basket and the lead was 13 before Tempest stopped the bleeding with a hoop.
“Alicia was big off the bench for us in the second half and we really needed Kari’s points,” Stanton said. “This win is import- ant because it sets the tone for a very long January. It puts us in a really good position.”
In an attempt to create more possessions and change the flow of the game, Woonsocket went to a full-court press in the final four minutes. Not only did the move speed up the Broncos, but it also created turnovers and transition opportunities for a Woonsocket team that needed easy baskets.
Faberlle, Lauren Cunanan and Cahill all scored buckets in the final three minutes, but Woonsocket ran out of time.
“I think the same thing with the press happened with our team defense – we did it fine, but we need to score,” Cahill said. “Every game we’ve had this happen. There’s a four-minute run in every game where we don’t hit shots and we forget what we’re doing on defense. The thing is I have a lot of sophomores with just a few seniors playing. Every game I see us getting better. We’re going to break through. Once we get a win, we’re going to be all right.”
The Villa Novans are back in action this afternoon at the PCTA against Central, while the Broncos make the same trip tomorrow afternoon at 4.