Clippers suffer first loss at hands of SRA
PAWTUCKET – Somebody had to lose. And that was the shame of it.
St. Raphael Academy emptied its tank on Thursday night to knock off unbeaten Cumberland 58-57 in triple overtime. Senior center Olivia Jannetta drained a 10-foot leaner in the lane for the winning basket.
“That is where we wanted the ball to go,” said Saints coach Tammy Drape, who hooked up in a strategical duel with Cumberland coach George Coderre. “I was really proud of our girls. We held together after Kasey Gagan fouled out.”
Thie contest went back and forth all night as Cumberland drained outside bombs and the Saints went inside for their hoops. The Clippers’ Christine Tilton hit seven threepoint field goals and led all scorers with 23 points. But the biggest three of the night came from her teammate, junior point guard Julianne Ross, who nailed an improbable game-tying trey at the buzzer of the second overtime.
Gagan and Ross, two adroit ball-handlers, controlled the game from the start. Ross, who finished with 17 points, kept finding her shooters on the outside of SRA’s zone. Tilton has such a quick release, she gets shots off before the defender can react.
Gagan would often grab a rebound and go from one end of the court to the other, driving for a layup or dumping the ball off to Jannetta or Jackie Lopes, another of the Saints’ scoring options.
Gagan and Lopes netted 15 points apiece while Jannetta threw down 13, hitting several feathery shots in the lane after executing a neat reverse pivot to lose her defender.
Cumberland led 25-21 at halftime before the game went crazy. The Saints embarked on a 20-6 run to open the second half and led 41-31 with 9:42 left in regulation. Tilton then hit three straight treys to make it a one- point game. The last hoop banked off the backboard and through the net with six minutes left.
Ross put Cumberland ahead 42-41 with a driving layup. Regulation would end with a 43-all stalemate after both teams missed chances to score in the final minute.
In the first extra session, Gagan hit a jump shot and drained two free throws for a 47-44 lead with 54 seconds left. Tilton tied the game 24 seconds later with her final three of the night.
Ross made the second OT session memorable with a play for the highlight reel. Gagan had fouled out with 1:07 left. The Saints, who were shooting double bonus free throws throughout overtime, led 52-49 with 2.9 seconds remaining. SRA dropped back into its zone defense, allowing Ross to let the ball roll to half-court with no time running off the clock. She then picked the ball up, dribbled to the middle of the floor and swished a three-pointer to tie the game. The buzzer went off before the ball went through the net.
Cumberland went ahead 57-54 in the third OT after Ross hit two free throws and drove to the hoop for a bas- ket. Lopes took charge on offense scored on a layup off an in- bounds pass. Cumberland then turned the ball over. Draper called time out and drew up a play for Jannetta, who responded with a clean look and a deft shot through the hoop with 14.9 seconds left on the scoreboard clock.
Given one last chance to be a hero, Fay missed a three-pointer and the game was over.
“I can’t fault the effort,” Coderre said. “The girls fought as hard as they could. We are not quite to the point where we trust what we’re doing. But we’ve won a bunch of a games and we’re going to keep working at getting better.”
Cumberland fell to 6-1 with the loss while SRA improved to 6-2 in Division II.
“That was as good a game as I have ever been involved in,” Draper said while her players gathered their equipment and headed to the locker room, walking on weary legs and wearing proud smiles.