The Johnston girls’ basketball team has been on an offensive surge the past few weeks, but the shots weren’t falling early in Friday’s game with Warwick Vets.
But the Panthers showed some versatility. Using a mix of man-to-man and 3-2 zone defenses, Johnston held Vets to just 16 points in the first half and then woke up offensively after the break. Johnston broke open a tight game midway through the second half to take a 15-point lead and never let it get back to single digits, eventually winning 57-43.
The Panthers allowed 20 points to Casey Bennett, but didn’t allow a single other player to score in double digits.
The win was Johnston’s eighth straight overall, and it improved the Panthers to 5-0 in Division II-North. Karina Mattera led the way with 25 points, while Alex DiRaimo added 14 and Isabella DiRaimo chipped in with seven.
“They picked it up in the second half,” Johnston head coach Chris Corsinetti said. “The intensity seemed to be there a little bit later in the second half.”
Johnston came into the game on the heels of scoring 67 and 65 points its last two times on the court. Vets’ defense held the Panthers to just 24 points at halftime and limited the scoring of Isabella DiRaimo. But Johnston was even better defensively, as Vets made only four field goals in the first half, and went into the break trailing by eight despite the defensive success.
“We’re trying to keep the turnovers down,” Vets head coach Owen Paquet said. “If we lessen the turnovers we can start competing a little harder in the long run.”
In the second half, the Panthers started to find their rhythm. Mattera scored eight points in the first three minutes of the half, and Johnston opened up a 33-20 lead
At that point, the game was still within reach. It could have tightened up considerably too, if Vets could have capitalized on a three-minute Johnston scoring drought. The Panthers turned the ball over three times in a row and missed a shot, giving them four consecutive empty possessions.
The ’Canes got nothing to show for it. They turned the ball over three times in that span, got a missed three from Ricki Beaufort and a missed runner from Bennett. The score was still 33-20 when Johnston got two points from Isabella DiRaimo to extend its lead to 35-20.
“We switched to zone,” Corsinetti said. “They do a nice job screening for the girl Casey and she passes the ball well, so we adjusted and went to our 3-2 a little bit.”
Again though, Vets had a golden opportunity to get right back in the game when Johnston went on another drought, missing three shots and turning the ball over twice in a five-possession span that saw it net zero points.
For the second time, the ’Canes didn’t take advantage. On its six possessions during that time, it turned the ball over four times and missed three shots.
And eventually Johnston’s offense got going again. Vets got two points on free throws by Lauren Almonte before Kristina DiMascio hit a jumper for Johnston and Jenna Pizzi hit one as well. Mattera scored inside and Lauren Tedesco made a free throw.
Vets got six points of its own during that time, yet still trailed 42-28 with six minutes to play.
A minute later, the ’Canes had one last chance to really get back in the game. Corsinetti was whistled for a technical foul, and then DiRaimo was called for one as well, giving Vets four free throws and the ball.
Trailing 44-30, Bennett hit just two of the four foul shots and then Vets missed a shot on the ensuing possession. With the potential to score six or seven points on that trip down the court, Vets scored just two.
“We’re putting up some big numbers offensively,” Corsinetti said. “Defensively, I’m a stubborn man-to-man coach, but we’re playing it well.”
The Panthers came down the court and scored on their next two possessions, taking a 16-point lead at 48-32. The ’Canes never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
“I should have gotten it sooner, because it seemed like they woke up a little after that,” Corsinetti joked about the technical. “It was good, we’re playing well.”
Lauren Almonte had nine points for Vets, while Victoria Ferri added four. Kat Raposo and Beaufort had three each.
In the first half, Vets led 3-2 and then never again. Johnston led by as many as 12 at 24-12 before the ’Canes closed the half with four straight points on a putback by Ferri and two free throws by Bennett.
Johnston sits in first place in D-II-North, and already owns a big road win over 4-1 Scituate – its chief competition in the division. In that game, on Jan. 13 the Panthers hit 10 three-pointers and hung on late for a 67-61 win.
“We played very well,” Corsinetti said. “We had a 14-point lead early in the second half. We knew they were going to have a run inside them and they cut it to two points. But we responded well. We never gave up the lead.”
As one of just four unbeaten teams in all of D-II, the Panthers know teams will be gunning for them from here on out. They were scheduled to host Classical on Wednesday, with the results unavailable at press time, before hosting 4-2 West Warwick for a non-league game on Friday at 7 p.m.
On Tuesday, they’ll host 4-1 Moses Brown.
“This team fights,” Corsinetti said. “I had this class since they were freshmen, and they’ve never said die. If they have a target on their back they’re going to respond to it pretty well.”
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