Eagles Overwhelm Mt. Hope Huskies, 61-26

Barrington High School’s girls’ basketball team overwhelmed girls Wednesday night, Dec. 28, in the closing game of the first day of the Barrington Boosters Holiday Basketball Tournament.

The 61-26 score was the result of intense defensive pressure all over the court. Only at 15-12 was the game close. Barrington then went on an 18-0 run over the next six minutes of play to put the game out of reach in the first half.

“We were sluggish at first,” said Barrington head coach Stephen Lenz. “It’s the holidays. Then the defense picked up.”

“Barrington is always good,” said Mt. Hope head coach Michael Almeida. “Their defense really took over when I took out my point guard to give her some rest. My backup is sick. That’s no excuse. But they went on an 18-0 run caused primarily by defense.”

Almeida said he also lost eight girls from last year’s team, so everybody has very little experience. That showed against Barrington, which ran a trapping defense that led to a lot of Huskies turnovers which were turned into points for the Eagles.

Lenz said before the game that the Eagles, even though they are still unbeaten, “have not been consistent.” He was pleased with the improvement he say Wednesday night.

“We still have work to do,” he said. “But we were way more consistent. We got better tonight and that’s a good sign.”

Junior guard Caitlyn Nolan led the Eagles with 19 points, 7 coming from the foul line as she attacked the goal all night to draw fouls. Sophomore forward Maura Kelty, who Lenz believes is one of the best players in the state already, added 12 points.

Mt. Hope senior guard Christie Ribeiro led the Huskies with 8 points. She was also one of the few Huskies who managed to have some success navigating the Eagles’ all-court pressure.

Barrington plays next on Thursday at 6:30 pm against Holy Name Central Catholic High School of Worcester, also an unbeaten team. Holy Name beat up on The Prout  School earlier in the day, 58-32.

Mt. Hope must come right back on Thursday at 2 pm against Rogers High School, which dropped its Wednesday game to East Providence, 56-42.

Barrington plays next in the closing game of the tournament Thursday at 8 pm against Mt. Hope High School, which got swamped in its Wednesday afternoon game, 81-36, by North Kingstown.