Johnston eighth grade girls’ team wins state title

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It’s called the Rhode Island Youth Basketball Association or in short, RIYBA.

And just like the so-called “big kids” – a.k.a. NCAA – the RIYBA is in the middle of March Madness.

No team, or so it seems, is enjoying their continued success of the 2014-15 hoop season as the Johnston Recreation Department’s eighth grade girls’ team.

“These kids have won five of nine tournaments this season,” David DeCesare, a Johnston High School Hall of Fame and one of the super squad’s fans, offered. “They’ve also finished second in two other tournaments and have been the shining lights and have taken the chill out of this ugly winter of weather.”

Last weekend, though, was the crowning glory for whom many Johnstonians deem – including Parks and Recreation Director Dan Mazzulla, who once starred on the high school and collegiate hardwoods – “a talented group of young women basketball players.”

Johnston’s traveling troupe, which is coached by Anthony Corsinetti and Mike D’Acchioli, defeated long-time rival Smithfield, 48-30, to uphold their statewide number one ranking.

“Our girls played tenacious defense,” Corsinetti emphasized of Johnston’s all-out smothering attack. “They were also consistent on the offensive end, launching and scoring a barrage of shots beyond the three-point mark.”

The Johnston girls, who completed the RIYBA regular-season with a sparkling 22-4 overall record, began their state championship conquest by beating back neighboring North Providence, 36-27, before nipping always-tough North Kingstown, 27-25, in the state semifinals.

“What a game,” D’Acchioli said of the two-overtime semifinal thriller that Johnston won in the closing seconds on Antonia Corsinetti’s last-second three-point bucket. “And it was quite the season, as well.”

The Johnston entry into the RIYBA included Siera Gonzalez, Sophia DeCosta, Nicole “Boom” DeCiantis, Cliasha Peoples, Gabriela DiRaimo, Julianna Zelewski, Sophia Hartley, Antonia Corsinetti, Jayme DeCesare and Kyra Mattera.

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