East Girls Beat EG 45-44 in OT

Cranston East's girls basketball team traveled to East Greenwich (1-2, 0-1 in league) for their regular season opener last night. Neither team had a double digit lead at any point during the game, as both teams fought hard, but the Thunderbolts ultimately prevailed 45-44 in overtime. 

The game was filled with hustle plays and was a grind-it-out type of game for both teams. Finding an offensive rhythm proved to be difficult for both teams due to stingy defense.

Cranston East started off the game firing on all cylinders. Point guard Erinn Reilly was the focal point during the 9-0 run to start the game. She had a three pointer during the run and two assists, the last coming on a jumper by Jesse Handler.

But the Avengers fought back hard using a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 11-9. Senior center Leah Settipone had seven points during the run, including a three point play. A jump shot by Kelsey Evje gave the Bolts a 20-13 lead with about four minutes left in the half.

The Avengers forced a few turnovers and turned them into easy buckets to take a 22-20 lead heading into halftime. Settipone had seven points during the run. She finished with 18 points in the first half alone.

East Greenwich's scoring run to end the first half carried over to the beginning of the second half. Kiley Powers assisted on a layup by Marielle Kraft giving the Avengers their biggest lead of the night at 26-20.

During the seven-and-a-half-minute run that spanned both halves, East Greenwich outscored the Bolts 13-0. The teams continued to trade baskets and East Greenwich led 30-24 with about eight-and-a-half minutes left in the game.

The Thunderbolts then seized control of the game in the following minutes by locking down on the defensive end. Captain Erinn Reilly played a crucial role during the subsequent 15-4 scoring run, drilling two three-pointers and taking charge of the defense. Reilly finished with 12 points, all on 3's, and four assist.

Emely Ramirez had a three point play and drilled a jumper to end the run giving East a 39-34 lead.

With one minute left in the game, Settipone dished to Tracey Mason who drilled a 3-pointer for East Greenwich cutting the deficit to 39-37. It ended a huge scoring drought, as the Avengers did not score a single point for just over six minutes.

Settipone made another huge play grabbing an offensive rebound and finishing for the bucket with 37 seconds left in the game, tying the game. Cranston East's defense locked her down in the second half and overtime, as she managed only two points in those twenty minutes after scoring 18 in the game's first half.

The Bolts almost made a half court shot at the buzzer, but the game would go into overtime. Evje was the difference maker in the overtime for the Bolts, along with Reilly. Reilly assisted on two layups by Evje and Evje nailed two free throws, scoring 6 of her 12 points on the night in the overtime period.

Mason made a jumper from the corner giving the Avengers a 44-43 lead with just under two minutes left in the overtime period. It was the last time they would hold a lead in the game.

That's when the captain showed her leadership abilities and made a key play for her team. Reilly passed the ball from mid court to a streaking Evje who scored the final points of the night for either team on a layup with about a minute left in the game to put Cranston East ahead 45-44. East Greenwich had a few opportunities to take the lead in the final minute, but couldn't score even though the Bolts aided them by missing two free throws in the last minute.

Rich Perrotta, Bolts head coach, credited a team effort tonight and said the key to victory was shutting down Settipone in the second half.

"It was a good win to start the season," he said, "It was a total team win. Hanler was an animal out there, diving for loose balls in the second half. She played great defense [on Settipone]."

The Avengers head coach, Matt Records, felt his team played hard, but the loss was frustrating.

"We laid it all on the line, but couldn't come up with the victory," Records said.

Records said the key to stopping Settipone in the second half came down to Reilly.

"I walked by their assistant coaches in the runway, and saw their diagram," he said, "They had decided to sag the point guard down in the paint to double team her."

East Greenwich drops to 1-3 on the season, 0-2 in league play, and Cranston East picked up a solid road victory to start their season.