St. Raphael survives Bengals upset bid
No. 3 Saints advance to D-I semifinals vs. No. 2 Rebels
PAWTUCKET – How relieved was St. Raphael senior captain Sierra Gonzalez after she and her third-ranked teammates survived a thrilling, tense 42-38 victory over sixth-seeded Bay View in a Division I quarterfinal on Monday night?
It took only a word: “Very.”
She referred not only to the last 8:29, when the Bengals began their ferocious flurry down the stretch, but the last 3:26. It was at that juncture freshman guard Kaleigh Valle not only turned a steal into a layup, but drained the freebie after a foul to slice the Saints’ advantage to a mere pair at 40-38.
That conventional three-point play helped Bay View assemble a remarkable 12-2 surge in the span of 4:43; it had overcome what looked to be another SRA blowout after junior Paige O’Brien’s turnaround flip and a Gonzalez foul shot with 8:49 remaining in regulation lifted the hosts to a 36-24 cushion.
As it turned out, the Bengals wouldn’t score again – but the Saints had their fair share of problems, too.
With 2:29 remaining in regulation, sophomore center Amaya Dowdy – who had missed most of the game with a high-ankle injury – re-entered for the first time and was fouled, yet failed to hit two free throws.
“I mean, coach preaches all the time that one person does not make a team. Amaya’s a very important aspect for us, but we had to do the job without her.”
— SRA’s Sierra Gonzalez
Thirty-eight seconds later, officials whistled O’Brien for a questionable foul, but junior Hunter Grenier’s oneand-one clanged off the rim.
Only 1:04 on the scoreboard clock, senior Madison D’Ambra robbed the ball and coasted in for a layup, but that rolled off the iron. Corsinetti easily snared the rebound, though she missed, too. And, with 45.3 left, sophomore Tatum Forbes calmly ripped two from the charity stripe to – in essence – seal it.
Still, the final 40 ticks resembled a football game, with players hustling, diving, etc. after fumbles.
“It was really hectic down the stretch, and really nerve-wracking,” noted Gonzalez, who produced arguably her best outing of the season with a game-high 14 points, four steals, three rebounds and a block. “The difference was we just kept our heads in the game.
“We still had the lead, so we just needed to play good defense and not foul anyone,” she added. “After Amaya went down (with just 4:29 elapsed after the opening tip), I knew we had to play the way we’re capable. I mean, coach preaches all the time that one person does not make a team. Amaya’s a very important aspect for us, but we had to do the job without her.
“It was hard, but we did, so this is really satisfying. Now we get to go to the next round.”
With the triumph, SRA (18-4 overall) will take on second-ranked South Kingstown in a semifinal slated for 7:30 p.m., Thursday at East Greenwich High.
Forbes finished with 10 points and four assists for the hosts, while senior co-captain Monet Gailloux mustered nine points and six rebounds; O’Brien six points; and sophomore Kaylee Mulligan had two points, eight steals, six boards and four assists.
For the Bengals (whose season closed at 16-7), senior Nicole DeCiantis netted a team-leading 12, frosh Kaleigh Valle 10, senior Madison D’Ambra nine and classmate Antonia Corsinetti an unusally-low seven.
“Kaylee did a great job, and I thought Sierra Gonzalez … well, kudos to her,” stated head coach Tammy Drape afterward. “She picked us up, and Monet had some great defensive stops. Those are two seniors, so when you win a game like that, I have to say our leadership showed.
“Still, we just have to go back to work because we didn’t do a good job of protecting the basketball (Monday) night,” she continued. “A win’s a win, and we’re happy about that, but you can’t take anything away from that Bay View team. I’ve known Antonia since she was a little girl, and I know her family pretty well.’ I knew they’d come out fired up, and they did.
“They put a lot of pressure on us down the stretch.”
Drape’s crew never trailed throughout. In fact, it rushed out to a 5-0 lead in the initial 2:21, yet Bay View battled back to slice it to 7-5 with 10:31 left in the session. Fifty-eight ticks after that, Corsinetti’s lone trey cut it to 9-8, and the crowd of over 150 sensed a thrilling, back-and-forth affair.
Only Corsinetti’s fast-break lay-in with 29.7 left would cushion the blow.
The Saints maintained at least a nine-point lead through the first sixplus minutes of the second half, but that only set up the Bengals’ tremendous surge.
“Playoffs are a brand new season; I tell the girls all the time it doesn’t matter what happens during the regular season,” Drape said. “We beat them by 20 or 22, I don’t know when that was (a few weeks ago), but I kept telling the girls it doesn’t matter.”