Young Northmen take advantage of foul shots to top Novans
NORTH SMITHFIELD — Other than geography, North Smithfield and Woonsocket don’t have much in common.
After Friday night’s Division III girls basketball preliminary-round contest between the No. 8 Northmen and the No. 9 Villa Novans, the two programs didn’t find common ground on what happened over the previous 32 minutes.
From a North Smithfield perspective, the 58-40 victory was a sign of maturity for a team that has so often this season been carried by precocious freshmen. Freshman Calla Puccetti scored a game-high 19 points and Skylar Mette added nine to help the Northmen build a comfortable first-half lead that they would never relinquish.
“We kind of got our flow back,” North Smithfield coach Ariana Stanton said. “We’ve played Woonsocket before and we know they’re a good skilled, talented team and we prepared for that. We didn’t have the best game against them last time and we’ve developed so much since then. We’ve found some confidence and we were ready for this. They did a nice job.”
On the other side of the court, Woonsocket coach Mike Cahill was simply exasperated with the amount of fouls called on his team. While Cahill freely admits his Novans are foul prone with their aggressive man-to-man defense, he doesn’t believe the Northmen should’ve gone to the line 34 times – 16 alone for Puccetti – while Peyton Cahill took the road side’s only two free throws.
Cahill was warned by both referees numerous times in the second half that he was on the verge of a technical foul. The coach never received one, but assistant coach Rob Cahill picked one up after the Novans’ seventh foul of the half. North Smithfield had just one at the time.
“We do commit fouls, but so do they,” Cahill said. “This is a physical ballgame and both teams are bumping; they’re on the foul line [34] times and we were on it two times. This is something that makes me feel bad for the kids. You argue for the kids and all they’re worried about is warning coaches. This is playoff basketball. For our girls, how do you play this game?
“At one point we were down by six, 43-37, and if we hit a shot we’re right in the ballgame with that kind of discrepancy. I’m not saying we don’t foul – we’re aggressive – I get it. But two free throws in a whole playoff game?”
Taylor Tempest knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 17 points, while Lauren Cunanan, Abby Desjardin, Tianna Carpentier and Erinee Agyemang all made 3-pointers.
While the Novans are left to lament what happened Friday night, Puccetti, Mette and the Northmen will spend the next few days getting ready for another Blackstone Valley opponent in the quarterfinals. The Northmen will trek to Donaldson Gymnasium to take on top-seeded Tolman, which won the D-III title the last time the Tigers were in the division.
In the teams’ first meeting, the Tigers used 20 points from senior guard Julia Al-Amir to break open a close game in the first half to secure a 58-45 victory.
“That court is very different than ours, so when we went there last time we had a couple of turnovers because it’s so narrow in the corners,” Stanton said. “We’re going to prepare for that and we’re going to prepare for their physical play. We’re excited for that and we’re excited because we’ve already exceeded our expectations.”