Photos by Tim Marshall
WARWICK — Though the East Providence High School Unified Basketball team fell to Barrington, 37-23, in the Division 5 championship game Sunday afternoon, May 7, at Bishop Hendricken, the spirit of the event far exceeded the result of the contest.
Unified Basketball is an effort backed by Rhode Island Special Olympics and the Interscholastic League pairing Special Needs students and their peers from the general population in a sports environment.
Teams played a full regular season schedule of games then advanced to their respective division playoffs. East Providence won a pair of postseason tournament outings, over West Warwick and Narragansett, to reach the postseason championship contest.
The Townies’ roster for 2017 included: Keishla Aponte, junior; Sarah Branco, senior; Cameron Chabot, senior; Victor Correa, freshman; James Cullerton, junior; Jakari Enos, junior; Nicholas Lethbridge, senior; Faith Marchetti, senior; Alicia Pacheco, sophomore; Connor Pedini, junior; Lauren Pereira, senior; Michael Reyes, junior; Alex Santos, sophomore; Kyle Soares, sophomore; Aaron Young, junior. Kristen Coutoulakis was the head coach, assisted by Don Lurgio.