By KEN CASTRO

Sports Correspondent

Seeking to enhance their post season seeding, Cranston West took another step toward said means with a 51-23 win over visiting Johnston on Monday night.

The Falcons, who entered the game holding the ninth seed of 12 teams to qualify for the playoffs improved to 7-7 on the season in Division I Central.

Johnston, which trailed 25-11 at halftime, fell to 0-11 in D-I North.

The two-pronged double digit scoring of junior guard Katie Johnson who finished with 14 points and freshman point guard Rachel Ferri who ended with 10 bolstered Cranston West’s efforts.

Despite the winless slate of the visitors, Cranston West head coach Richard Perrotta was emphatic in his pre-game talk to his players about a potential upset. “We talked about not taking them too lightly,” said Perrotta. “We didn’t want to not play our type of game.”

Cranston West bolted from the opening tap, streaking to a 9-0 advantage, while the Panthers notched their first field goal, 4:02 into the game. On their next possession, Johnston junior Marissa Micheli buried a long jumper to slice the deficit to five points at 9-4.

But the Falcons turned the contest into a track meet of sorts, taking full benefit of a handful of Panthers turnovers and firing off a 15-0 fast-break fueled run.

Johnston’s offense, sputtering in the opening half, found the range at a 22.2 percent clip on 4-of 18-shots. The failure to answer the Falcons run in the opening stanza reappeared in the second half as well for head coach Dan Mazzulla.

“We don’t have anything to hide, we go out and play hard,” said Mazzulla following the loss. “I have 12 girls that come to practice every day and work as hard as they can possibly work. Our mindset is to go out there and have fun.”

Sophomore Alysa O’Neill led Johnston and senior Kayla Hebert with six points each. O’Neill sank the lone three point field goal for the Panthers in the loss. By contrast, the Falcons were highly successful from beyond the arc, as Ferri and Johnson netted three apiece from long range.

Perrotta got a chance to find some playing time for his bench player’s midway through both halves. “We needed a big win after our last couple of tough losses. We wanted to run our plays and get ourselves ready for the next five games and we were able to do that while getting all of our players into the game.”

Cranston West’s lead reached 30 points with less than two minutes remaining in the second half, courtesy of a pair of free throws by sophomore forward Haley Foss.

West pulled its record to an even .500 at 7-7 in league play and 10-8 overall with the victory. The Falcons sit at the bottom of D-I Central but are still in a tight race with the rest of the league. Bay View leads the league with a record of 9-3, with just two more wins on the season than West.

The Falcons played Cranston East last night in a rescheduled game and will have some time off before hosting North Kingstown on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.