Slow start dooms Davies in D-III quarterfinal defeat to talented Central
PROVIDENCE – The last time Davies Tech battled Central, on Jan. 22 at the Providence Career & Technical Academy fieldhouse, the Patriots suffered a five-point Division III loss. Still, veteran mentor Joe Handy figured back then he could develop a plan to defeat Knights should the two friendly foes meet again.
That chance came less than five weeks later – on Tuesday afternoon, in fact, at the same site, but there was much more on the line this time: A trip to the Division III tournament semifinals.
The Patriots seemed to match up well with Central through the early going, but the second-seeded Knights slowly pulled away midway through the second stanza and eventually coasted to a 48-29 triumph.
So it will be Central (16-3 overall), not the seventh-ranked Patriots that will take on tonight’s Pilgrim-Lincoln victor in the semis at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at the Johnston High gym.
“Our goal was to slow them down because we didn’t want them to run it down our throats; (head coach) Vin (Scandura) has a lot of good, fast players on his team,” Handy stated. “We did a good job of that initially, but the only problem was they decided to slow it down, too. That gave us a ton of open looks throughout the game, especially in the first half, but we couldn’t connect.
“Why? That’s a great question. I don’t know why,” he added. “They just didn’t drop.”
As usual, senior guard Jada Burton proved to be the catalyst for the hosts, netting a game-high 17, while junior Claudia Agramonte chipped in nine (all via the trey), sophomore center Ze-harra Cook six and classmate Mashiya Mangum five.
For Davies, no one recorded double digits in scoring, though sophomore guard Keeara Howard mustered seven; senior tri-captain Thalia Philippe two points with eight rebounds and five blocks; junior Jenny Cruz six points and a team-leading 15 boards; senior captain Julie Desautel six points and seven rebounds; and classmate Destiny Baptista three points and eight boards.
What didn’t help Handy’s crew: Twenty-three turnovers; hitting only eight of 21 from the charity stripe; and a horrid shooting percentage from the field.
Ironically, everything started rosy, as Spooner’s trifecta gave the Pats a 3-0 lead 3:46 after the opening tip. Agramonte, however, answered that with a baseline bomb with 11:21 remaining before intermission, and that ignited a 16-1 run in the span of 6:10.
In fact, with 6:29 left, Central forced Tech’s 10th turnover, and it followed that with Cook’s short jumper and a Burton foul shot, good for the 16-4 advantage.
When Howard drained a pretty scoop with 4:21 remaining, that proved to be the Pats’ first bucket in a whopping 7:43. Desautel canned two freebies at the 3:07 mark to slice it to 16-8, giving her squad some hope, but Cruz and Howard both missed one-and-ones that could have whittled the deficit to four, maybe five.
The Knights rode a 20-10 cushion into the break, then took only three ticks into the final stanza to cause another turnover. Still, Cruz landed a short bucket after two teammates missed three of four from the stripe; that knifed it to 21-13, but Mangum’s conventional three-point play and an Agramonte trey sparked a 10-2 flurry in the span of 4:29.
When Cook dropped a lay-in with 9:23 remaining, the Knights held a 3115 lead. They also slowly continued to extend it.
Handy nevertheless raved about his club’s wherewithal throughout the contest – and the campaign. With 1:08 left in regulation and the Pats trailing by over 20, Desautel ignored the inevitable result and dove to the floor under her own defensive boards for a loose ball.
“We certainly didn’t quit; the girls kept fighting, but they’ve done that all year,” Handy said. “We’ve had a great season, and I want all of my girls to know that. Late in the game, I took our all the seniors together, and I know Julie was rather emotional. I just told them to keep their heads up, that I’m proud of them regardless.
“I do know this: We had a lot of teams who didn’t want to play us, or were nervous about it, because of our grit. We bring it every game, and the girls should be proud of that.”
DAVIES TECH (29) – Julie Desautel 1 4-4 6, Sam Baako 0 0-2 0, Destiny Baptista 0 3-4 3, Jenny Cruz 3 0-1 6, Keeara Howard 3 1-6 7, Thalia Philippe 1 0-2 2, Alaynah Rubio 1 0-0 2, Tiana Spooner 1 0-0 3, Julianna Rosado 0 0-2 0, Katrina Fernandes 0 0-0 0, Paola Fernandez 0 0-0 0, Pineda Melia 0 0-0 0, Cheyenne Robertson 0 0-0 0, Brenna Williams 0 0-0 0; totals 10 8-21 29. CENTRAL (48) – Jada Burton 6 3-6 17, Claudia Agramonte 3 0-0 9, Breyana Lafargue 0 2-4 2, Mashiya Mangum 2 1-1 5, Marcenzya Melvin 2 0-0 4, Leira Rivera 0 1-2 1, Gismel Feliz 1 2-3 4, Ze-harra Cook 3 0-0 6; totals 17 9-16 48.
3-point field goals: Spooner, Burton 2, Agramonte 3.