Islanders Surge Late to Tame Tigers 37-32 [VIDEO]

Better late than never.

The girls’ basketball team snapped out of an offensive funk during the final six minutes of action Friday night, erasing a seven-point deficit to defeat host , 37-32, in a non-league Injury Fund game.

Nina Traglia scored a game-high 14 points and Chelsea Dowler added 11 points – including five key free throws in the closing three minutes – as the Islanders (defending Division 3 state champions) rallied from a 30-23 disadvantage to shock the Division 2 Tigers.

After Tiverton’s Haley Higginbottom drained a three-pointer with 6:11 left and a foul shot with 5:57 remaining to push the hosts in front by the 30-23 margin, Middletown clamped down defensively, surrendered just two points the rest of the way and took the ball to the hole offensively, producing 14 free throw opportunities in that span and converting six.

“This is how we usually play; it usually takes us time to warm up,” said Middletown Coach Mike Yates. “I think the biggest thing was that we hit our foul shots at the end.”

Traglia banked in a pair of jump shots and swished a foul shot within a span of 1:23 to reduce the Islanders’ deficit to 30-28 and Dowler bottomed three of foul charity tosses to put the guests in front, 31-30, with 2:40 left. After Tiverton’s Samantha Sando (5 points) converted a put-back for a 32-31 edge with 2:21 to go, Middletown scored the final six points of the contest as Dowler made two free throws sandwiched around interior baskets by Michaela Conley and Zoe Mazzulli.

Olivia Bergandy topped Tiverton with 8 points and teammates Haley Higginbottom and Rachel Pimental both finished with 6 points, but Coach Ted Wise said he was not pleased with his squad’s performance.

“We have a lot of talent on this team, but I saw a lot of selfishness tonight and a lack of effort,” he said. “We need to come together and handle our business on the court.”

Until the concluding minutes, the contest was a ragged and sloppy affair, replete with an avalanche of mistakes, poor shot selection, frigid shooting from the floor, a slew of personal fouls and enough turnovers to keep a bakery in the black indefinitely. In the first half alone, the teams combined to miss 15 of 16 free throws and finished the night with only 16 successes in 54 tries.

Defensively, both clubs played intensely and physically, generating numerous turnovers and generally forcing shots under duress.

Despite playing without injured forward Breanna Freeman, Middletown out-rebounded Tiverton and was more poised and aggressive coming down the stretch, likely owing to its title success of a year ago. Meanwhile, the Tigers (who performed without regulars Bianca DiPrato, Jackie Wilson and Emily Masse) struggled to sustain offensive consistency and cohesion as they did last winter when they captured just three Division 2 victories.

The teams swapped leads through the opening nine minutes of play until two Bergandy baskets keyed an 8-0 Tiverton spurt which created a 14-9 gap with 2:28 left prior to halftime. A three-pointer by Brittany Kivlehan and Elizabeth Durgan’s bank shot from the left wing narrowed the guests’ disadvantage to 15-14 at the break.

Middletown tallied the first five points of the second half to assume a 19-15 cushion until the Tigers responded with another 8-0 burst to enjoy a 23-19 edge as Bergandy accounted for four points and Pimental for three points. Tiverton gradually stretched its lead to seven points before the Islanders rallied.

The Tigers will again this season boast an abundance of backcourt depth in Bergandy, Higginbottom, Samantha Welchman, Sarah Whiston, Sando and Masse, but they must improve their offensive outputs and reduce mistakes. Again lacking dominating size, the interior corps of Pimental, DiPrato, Wilson, Mariah Caldwell, Maya Bergandy and Jackie Carmichael will be called on to produce increased offense and at least break even on the boards against taller opponents.

Tiverton is fast and tenacious defensively and will likely rely on its defense to force turnovers and generate much of its offense.

“To be successful this year, we must hustle on both ends of the floor and believe in our system,” Wise said. “We will have accountability for ourselves and our actions on the floor. We still have a long way to go, but it will come.”

The Tigers will launch their Div. 2 regular-season schedule next Wednesday at Cranston East High School.

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