Girls Basketball Playoff Roundup: Mariners in semis

For the first time since 2016, the Narragansett girls basketball team has advanced to the semifinals.

The third-seeded Mariners beat North Providence 50-34 on Monday night in the Division III quarterfinals. They were set to face Toll Gate in the semis on Wednesday, with results unavailable at press time.

The Mariners rolled into the playoffs with eight wins in their final nine games and kept things cooking on Monday. Wary of an upset in a division that was marked all season by parity, the Mariners controlled the game against the Cougars. They built a first-half lead, then finished strong after North Providence made a move in the third quarter.

Grace Blessing had a huge game with 26 points and nine rebounds. Brooke Caffrey was also in double figures with 12 points. Alexa Poirier scored six.

Narragansett’s last semifinal appearance was in the 2015-16 season, when it lost to Mount St. Charles in the D-III semis. The Mariners are on the hunt for their first tile since 2015, when they topped Middletown for the D-III crown.

Rogers stuns top-seeded NK

A year ago, the North Kingstown girls basketball team won the Division I title then lost in the state tournament. This season, the Skippers will have to hope for a reversal of that after falling to Rogers 55-37 in the Division I quarterfinals on Monday.

“We didn’t play well at all,” North Kingstown coach Bob Simeone said.

The ninth-seeded Vikings were coming off a mild upset of South Kingstown in the opening round of the playoffs. Monday’s upset was a much bigger one. The Skippers had lost just once all season and entered the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak. Their goal was to win the D-I title and the state title.

Rogers has given North some trouble in the past, though the Skippers still won by 13 in this year’s regular-season meeting.

This time, the Vikings managed to slow down the game and shot the ball well at the offensive end. The Skippers struggled with uncharacteristic turnovers and watched Rogers out-score them 14-5 in the second quarter.

Instead of an expected second-half turnaround, the Skippers scored just seven points in the third quarter and saw the deficit grow to 16. They couldn’t get back into the game in the fourth.

Maeve Crowley led Rogers with 24 points, Danaysha Cherry had 16 and Sydney Newsome scored 12. Jillian Rogers was the only Skipper in double figures with 22 points.

North Kingstown wasn’t the only victim of an upset in the D-I bracket. Third-seeded Ponaganset – the defending state champion – was ousted by Bay View.

The Skippers will turn their attention to the state tournament, which begins March 1.

Rebels bounced in prelims

Before its upset of North Kingstown, Rogers knocked South Kingstown out of the D-I tourney with a 43-34 victory.

The Rebels had beaten the Vikings 43-41 in a tight regular-season matchup. The rematch was an offensive struggle on both sides, but Rogers eventually broke out and South Kingstown never did.

South Kingstown will be back in action for the state tournament.