The Johnston girls’ basketball team looked strong for most of Tuesday night’s game with Scituate, but youth caught up to the Panthers before they could seal the victory.
While clinging to a slim two-point lead, Johnston turned the ball over twice in the final minute, leading to five Scituate points and, eventually, a tough 57-54 defeat.
With three freshmen playing significant minutes, not to mention a sophomore and a group of relatively inexperienced juniors, the mistakes come with the territory.
“You live with freshmen and you die with freshmen,” Johnston head coach Chris Corsinetti said. “I’ve got the ball in the hands of freshmen and I have to heavily depend on them to put points on the board and to handle the basketball. That can be dangerous in a case like this.”
Freshman Karina Mattera paced the Johnston offense with 20 points – including 18 in the second half – while junior Madison Mansolillo and freshman Francesca Gaudiana each added eight for the Panthers, who fell to 2-3 in Division II-North.
Scituate got 21 points from Jordin Pino and 14 more from Sadie Ross. The Spartans improved to 4-2.
Johnston struggled all night with costly mistakes, but especially in the second half, as it fouled Scituate for the seventh time with nearly seven minutes still to play in the second half. That meant that every foul from there on out sent the Spartans to the free throw line.
The Panthers also turned the ball over 12 times in the second half, and the miscues proved too much to overcome.
“There’s nerves,” Corsinetti said. “They haven’t been in game situations like this, and it’s tough to teach on the run. But they’re learning.”
Johnston led 18-17 at halftime, but saw Scituate come back to take a 34-29 lead with eight minutes remaining on a long three from Pino.
Following a timeout, the Panthers immediately responded. Mattera converted a tough layup, and Isabella DiRaimo knocked down one free throw after a Scituate turnover to cut the deficit to two. Another Scituate turnover led to a Mattera three from the baseline, putting Johnston on top 35-34.
The Spartans turned the ball over on both of their next two possessions, and Mansolillo knocked down a jumper followed by Mattera scoring in transition to give the Panthers a five-point lead.
Scituate came right back to score 10 of the next 13 points and reclaim a 44-42 lead, only to see Mattera knock down a short jumper to tie the game again.
“She’s a talented offensive player,” Corsinetti said of Mattera. “Sometimes she’s too unselfish with the basketball, like we saw in the first half. A couple times she’s trying to dump the ball where she can take the ball to the basket. But that’s a good thing, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
The Spartans again stormed back in front, taking a 50-46 lead on a steal and layup from Vanessa Rose, but layups from DiRaimo and Mattera tied the score at 50. DiRaimo then knocked down a fadeaway jumper in the paint to give Johnston the lead back at 52-50.
Scituate turned the ball over as soon as it touched it on its next possession, but the Panthers failed to run any clock and turned it right back over.
After a Scituate timeout, Ross followed her own miss from the post to tie the game at 52.
Johnston tried to push the ball up the court after the basket, but lost control. Scituate quickly stole the and passed it ahead to Pino, who buried a three to give the Spartans a sudden 55-52 lead.
“Hopefully we learn from it, and we go from there,” Corsinetti said.
The Panthers took a timeout with 14.5 seconds left and Corsinetti drew up a play to try to get the ball to Mattera on the perimeter. Scituate, though, fouled Mansolillo before the ball got to Mattera, and Mansolillo hit one of her two free throws.
“We were trying to run Karina off a double-screen into the corner, but they had two people playing her,” Corsinetti said. “It was worth a try to see what happens, but it just didn’t get there.”
Scituate’s Julia Corsi was fouled following the inbounds pass with 7.3 seconds left, and she hit both free throws to seal the game.
Losing in that fashion was less than ideal for Johnston, which had won a similar game over Mount St. Charles last Wednesday.
Yet, there were positives.
The 54 points scored by the Panthers was the most they have scored all season. They also held Scituate to 20 points below the 77 the Spartans had put up last Friday in their previous game, a win over Mt. Hope.
“This is the most points we’ve put up on the board,” Corsinetti said. “There’s a lot of positives. If I want to focus on anything right now, we have to improve on our defense.”
Johnston will try to get back on track on Friday, when it travels to 1-3 Tolman for a 7 p.m. tip.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here