Barrington
Kingstown tried to make a game of it, Barrington knew how to finish.
The Eagles’ big three of Isys Dunphy, Maddie Gill and Janayah Prince-Baquero closed with purpose, helping Barrington pull out a 50-41 victory over the Skippers in the 2024 Rhode Island Interscholastic League Girls Basketball Division I Championship.
“This is a great feeling. This is my first championship ever and I’m so proud we made it this far,” Prince-Baquero said. “We came together as a team and pushed through.”
Barrington’s win started in the second quarter with a defensive stance unlike any other. Trailing, 15-12, heading to the second period, the Eagles took the lead after layups by Dunphy and Gill with 5:10 left to play.
With each basket, the lead grew until the quarter ended and the Eagles led, 24-15. They had pitched a shutout, even if they didn’t realize it.
“We were just working hard. We had to get that ball,” Dunphy said. “I didn’t even know until you told me. We were working really hard; we had to hone in our defense and that’s what we did.”
“We’ve been practicing our defense just for this moment right here,” PrinceBaquero said. “We play man but we have to help the helper. It looks like a 3-2 or 2-3 but we’re actually in man.”
North Kingstown, playing without freshman Shea Kalin, the teams’ No. 2 scorer who suffered a knee injury in the semifinals, finally ended its streak of futility with a Jaelyn Holmes layup two minutes into the third quarter that cut the deficit to 30-17.
The lead remained around double figures for most of the second half, until the Skippers finally found a spark early in the fourth.
Down, 40-27, with six minutes left, Holmes hit a 3-pointer that sparked an 11-1 run, a spurt that Barrington was more than ready for.
“They had a great performance,” Prince-Baquero said. “But when they were coming back, we started to lock in more and make a bigger lead for ourselves.”
In the final three minutes of the game, the Eagles’ three best players did what they were supposed to do. The contributions on defense from Riley Graveline and Liv Morrissette were evident throughout the night and Ellie Donato, Kimia Beers, Lauren Kilpatrick and Faith Van Ness were tremendous off the bench; but when the game got down to it, Dunphy, Gill and Prince-Baquero came through.
Prince-Baquero did it on offense, ending the NK run with a layup, which was followed by two free throws from Dunphy, before coming up with two free throws after being fouled on an offensive putback with 1:19 left.
Gill handled things on the defensive end, coming up with a big block, up 4541. Dunphy did it on both ends, pulling in the rebound off Gill’s block. In the final three minutes, Gill had two points, one assist, which led to a layup for Graveline with 32 seconds left, plus two rebounds and a steal.
“We got nervous but then we pushed back,” Prince-Baquero said. “We weren’t going to let them win. This was ours.”
“We have good chemistry,” Dunphy said. “We all knew we could do it.”
When the final horn sounded on Barrington’s first Division I championship since 2017, the Eagles celebrated accordingly.
They met near midcourt at the AMP, got in a huddle where everyone jumped up and down and screamed in joy. Coach Stephen Lenz joined the group, celebrated for a few seconds, then everyone put their hands in the center and screamed “Eagles.”
“It’s great,” Dunphy said. “I’ve never felt this great before.”
The title is great for Barrington, but there is a lot more basketball to play. The win earned the Eagles the top seed in the State Tournament. They’ll play again in the quarterfinals against the winner of Friday’s game between No. 9 Mount St. Charles and No. 8 Chariho, the start of what the Eagles hope is a fortuitous journey.
“We just have to do the same thing,” Dunphy said. “Like coach Lenz says, that win don’t mean nothing. Now we have to focus on states.”
“We’re just going to keep working hard,” Prince-Baquero said. “And we’re probably going to win another one.”