Portsmouth girls overpower Barrington with strong second half

Posted 3/2/16

The Portsmouth High School girls' basketball team used a 19-3

run at the start of the second half to overpower Barrington and run away with a 63-49 win in a first round match-up of the Girls' State Open Basketball Tournament at …

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Portsmouth girls overpower Barrington with strong second half

Posted

The Portsmouth High School girls' basketball team used a 19-3

run at the start of the second half to overpower Barrington and run away with a 63-49 win in a first round match-up of the Girls' State Open Basketball Tournament at Rhode Island College on Wednesday night, March 2.

Barrington trailed Portsmouth by seven points at halftime, 32-25, but struggled to keep the Patriots off the boards throughout the first half. Eagles head coach Stephen Lenz said it seemed like Portsmouth scored all its first-half baskets off second- or third-chance opportunities.

Barrington switched up its defensive strategy to start the second half — moving from a 2-3 zone to man-to-man. The Eagles' Grace Coutu was fouled and knocked down a free throw to open the second half scoring, but Portsmouth followed that with seven straight points and opened a 39-26 advantage.

Barrington's Andrea Kubas-Meyer scored to cut the Patriots' lead to 11, but Portsmouth's Gabriella DeComo scored on two consecutive trips and stretched the score to 43-28. After Portsmouth's Kylie Swider scored on a layup and Haley Alves drilled a three-pointer, the Patriots' lead had grown to 48-28 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Portsmouth maintained its 20-plus point advantage for most of the second half, but the Eagles chipped away in the closing minutes to close the margin to 14.

"It wasn't a great night for us," said Lenz, adding that Portsmouth

is an experienced team with plenty of senior leadership in Alves and Haley Oliveira, who knocked down a pair of key three-pointers in the second half.

"And they're a very tall team, but I think we still could have done a better job bodying them up," he said.

Barrington struggled to grab rebounds throughout the first half. On numerous trips down the court, Portsmouth would fail to convert on its first shot, but benefited from one, two or even three offensive rebounds before sinking a basket.

The Eagles fell behind 7-2 early, as the Patriots pounded the boards for second chance shots.

Kubas-Meyer kept the Eagles close as she drilled one deep three-pointer after another and eventually pulled Barrington even at 13-13 with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half. Another Kubas-Meyer three gave Barrington the lead at 16-15.

Alves drove, was fouled and hit both free throws to give the Patriots the edge with 7 minutes to play in the first half, but Coutu scored and put her Eagles back on top.

Barrington led 23-22 with about four minutes to go in the half, but Oliveira hit a three-pointer, DeComo hit a free throw and Isabella Troppoli completed an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Patriots a 29-23 lead with 1:45 remaining.

Coutu scored to pull Barrington to within four, but DeComo knocked down a deep three to put the Patriots on top 32-25 at the break.

Coach Lenz said he was proud of how his team continued to battle in the second half, including freshman guard Olivia Middleton. "She played great for us all year," he said.

Lenz said Portsmouth double-teamed Coutu in the second half and often left outside shooters open, tempting them to knock down long jumpers. He said he struggled to find a player who could take advantage of the outside looks.

Portsmouth will play against LaSalle in a quarterfinal game on Saturday at PC's Alumni Hall.

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