Eagles sprint out to big lead, hold on for big win

Barrington girls defeat defending state champs, 45-40

By Josh Bickford
Posted 12/15/22

The Barrington High School girls basketball team survived a second-half rally by Ponaganset and picked up a 45-40 victory in front of a hometown crowd on Wednesday night, Dec. 14.

The Eagles built …

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Eagles sprint out to big lead, hold on for big win

Barrington girls defeat defending state champs, 45-40

Posted

The Barrington High School girls basketball team survived a second-half rally by Ponaganset and picked up a 45-40 victory in front of a hometown crowd on Wednesday night, Dec. 14.

The Eagles built a 24-9 halftime lead behind Lindsey Lemay’s 14 first-half points. The junior scored 12 of those points in the second quarter as Barrington began to pull away from the Chieftains. She overpowered the Ponaganset defense with a series of strong post moves and knocked down a pair of free throws. 

“She played so well tonight,” said Barrington Coach Stephen Lenz. “That’s the thing with her — you can see the potential in her. When she plays maximum effort every possession, she’s real tough to stop. She’s physical. She’s powerful. And even more importantly tonight, she played great on the defensive end and had a monster night rebounding.”

Barrington’s suffocating defense forced a number of errant shots by Ponaganset in the first half — three-point attempts rang off the top of the backboard or missed the basket altogether. The Eagles’ Riley Graveline, Maddie Gill, Chloe Rouleau, Isys Dunphy, Ellie Donato, Lauren Kilpatrick and Janaya Prince-Baquero contesting each Ponaganset shot.

But the Chieftains found their range in the second half. 

Ponaganset’s Giana DeCesare hit a free throw to start the third quarter and then buried a jumper to cut Barrington’s lead to 24-12. The Eagles’ Dunphy, who scored seven points in the first half, knocked down a basket to give Barrington a 26-12 edge, and Gill sunk two free throws to make it 28-12. 

The Chieftains’ Jaina Yekelchik responded with a four straight baskets — she hit a three pointer, and then drilled three mid-range pull-up jumpers. With about three minutes to go in the third quarter, the Chieftains had cut the lead to 30-21. 

DeCesare and Yekelchik finished out the third quarter with back-to-back three-pointers and suddenly Barrington’s lead had shrunk to five, 32-27.

Lenz said he expected Ponaganset would make a run in the second half.

“I told them (his team) at halftime, at some point, this is going to be a game. They’re just too good,” he said about Ponaganset. “They’re too good a team. They’re going to hit some shots that they missed. We just have to keep fighting through it …”

At the start of the fourth quarter, Gill pushed a nice pass to Lemay, who buried the shot, giving the Eagles a 34-27 lead. Yekelchik responded with a basket, but the Eagles defense continued to stiffen, forcing tough attempts by the Chieftains in the fourth quarter.  

Meanwhile, the Eagles made each offensive possession count. Prince Baquero hit four free throws down the stretch and knocked down a driving lay-up. Lemay scored on a drive to the basket a short time later.

“I thought we played very well the last three minutes of the game,” Lenz said. “I thought we played very smart. We didn’t have any turnovers in that last three minutes.”

Lenz also praised the visiting team’s effort. 

“The thing about them (Ponaganset), is that they’re such a smart team. Everything is read and react. They take whatever you give them. If you’re lazy at all, they’re going to take advantage of it,” he said. “I thought the first half, we completely locked them down, even in foul trouble. And they were in foul trouble too. I think in the second half we got tired. If I could back, in the third quarter, maybe I could have subbed a little more. But, you know, coaches tighten up too.”

Lenz was pleased to see his team push through the Chieftains’ second half run.

“It’s a huge win,” he said. “I think it feels great. It’s a big exhale from them (his team). They know they have some ability and some talent. We played two tough teams this weekend and lost both games. Maybe a little doubt creeps in even though we played really well. Tonight we played for 32 minutes and we beat the defending state champs.”

Lemay finished the game with 20 points to lead the Eagles, while Dunphy had 11 and Prince-Baquero added 10. Gill rounded out the scoring with four points. 

“I felt good,” Lemay said following the game. “There was a lot more intensity in the second half. They were working defensively and we had to push ourselves to get through and work hard as a team.”

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