Lara, Lions overcome Northmen
NORTH SMITHFIELD — The Lincoln girls basketball team has more than enough talent to be very competitive in Division III, but the big challenge for coach Lindsay Lacey is teaching a team with just four league wins in the last two seasons in Division II how to win.
That was the case Friday night against a very young North Smithfield team when the Lions held the Northmen scoreless for 10 minutes, 34 seconds to build a 13-point advantage in the second half.
Behind the play of freshmen Calla Puccetti (team-high 11 points) and Megan Masi, the Northmen whittled that lead down to two before the best player on the court, Lincoln senior Yaritza Lara, knocked down a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to ice a 36-32 Division III road win over the Northmen.
“We came from last year not being in any close games where we were losing by 20 to 30 points to now where these girls need to learn how to play in tight games,” Lacey said. “We can’t turn the ball over and we have to play smarter. I’m not happy we let them back in the game, but we got the stops we needed and took the care of the ball and made some free throws.”
North Smithfield (1-1 Division III) started the campaign with a blowout win over Division III newcomer the Lincoln School on Monday, but the Northmen didn’t find their shooting touch on Friday until they were down 26-13 with 11 minutes left in the game. Masi, who scored 10 points, made a couple of buckets, while Alexis DeSimone hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 10.
It was at that point that Puccetti took over and connected on two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to just two points with 37 seconds remaining. North Smithfield had a chance to take the lead, but the home side missed a 3-pointer and Lara went down the other end and made a pair of free throws to end it.
“We’re working on being more consistent, but that’s a product of us being so young.” North Smithfield coach Ariana Stanton said. “We have two or three freshmen on the floor at the same time in a varsity game, so things come together and sometimes they fall apart – freshman nerves. They working it out and they’re doing a great job. They show a lot of promise.”
Lincoln (1-3, 1-1 Division III) rode the strong play of Lara for its first win of the season. The junior wing scored a game-high 22 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers to pace the Lions, while junior Lilye Lasko had five points. Senior Dalia Suslovich chipped in with four and Kate Swanson added a bucket.
“Lilye Lasko played a heck of a game in the paint,” Lacey said. “She boxed out some of their bigger players. Kate, Yaritza, Dalia and Victoria [Ryan], across the board our starters carried us today. Yaritza really helped us and when she made baskets, that helped our press and we feed off of that for our transition offense.”
Lasko staked the Lions to a three- point advantage early in the first half when she made a free throw and then scored a second-chance bucket, but then North Smithfield responded with 5-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game (11-9) following a Masi bucket and a Puccetti free throw.
The Northmen failed to make a field goal over the final 5:30 of the half, which allowed the Lions to open up a 19-13 advantage at halftime. Lara scored 10 points in the first half, while Liz Hien and Lasko each had buckets.
Lincoln continued to play solid defense to start the second half, taking a 26-13 advantage after a Suslovich hoop. Lincoln then failed to make a hoop over the next 4:48 to help the Northmen work their way back into the game.
“We had to slow ourselves down on offense because we were going too fast,” Stanton said. “We also had to find the holes they were giving us on defense. We made a little tweak here and there and the kids pulled themselves back into it. Sometimes, it’s just a shot here or a shot there that gets them going.”
Friday, it was DeSimone’s 3-pointer that sparked the Northmen into life. After the senior’s 3-pointer, the Northmen started playing better defense and the Lincoln lead dwindled all the way down to two after back-toback 3-pointers by Puccetti in the final two minutes. The Northmen didn’t get any closer, however, as the Lions went into Christmas with a much-needed victory.
Follow Branden Mello on Twitter @Branden_Mello