Freshman Caroline Howe formally introduced herself to the folks of Smithfield on Saturday afternoon, and it was not a warm welcome.
The Johnston forward put up nine points and nearly as many rebounds off the bench in the second half alone to help the Panthers to a 45-41, come-from-behind victory over Division I Smithfield at Ponaganset’s Pink Madness Tournament.
“We’ve never had a kid with that kind of size,” Johnston head coach Chris Corsinetti said. “Defensive rebounding changed the game. We didn’t give them any second-chance opportunities, which is our Achilles heel.”
Junior guard Jordan Moretti had another star performance with 17 points, seven rebounds and six steals, but it was the Panthers’ overall work inside that delivered them the victory. Five different Johnston players posted at least seven rebounds.
All of Howe’s points came in crunch time. She took a feed from Gabriella DiRaimo to cut the deficit to 35-33, and put the Panthers back out in front, 38-37, with another layup in the waning minutes. DiRaimo had a well-rounded stat sheet, recording eight points, seven boards, three steals and a block.
Sophomore Amelia Moore quietly settled in under the basket, too. She posted five points and 10 rebounds, including a pivotal free throw to boost the Johnston lead to 39-37.
“She has the potential and the ability to take over a game, whether it’s offensively or defensively,” Corsinetti said of Moore. “Just a sophomore. Last year was her first year of game experience at the JV level. Having [Howe and Moore] down low and having them rebounding, even challenging shots the way they are, they’re walling up on the shooters, it’s going to be big for us.”
Howe notched a crucial putback to extend the Johnston lead to two scores, 41-37, just inside the two-minute mark. The Sentinels battled back, but the offense had difficulty outside of guard Riley Hart. She posted eight second-half points, but no other Smithfield shooter had more than three.
Nevertheless, she single-handedly kept her side close in the late seconds. Hart found room for an uncontested 3-pointer with one minute and 13 seconds to go that slashed the Johnston lead to one point.
Again, though, it was the first-year player that outdid the Sentinels down low. Smithfield activated the press with the shot clock turned off, and Bianca Robbins fired a full-court pass down to an unmarked Howe. She vacuumed in the heave and banked it off the backboard to boost the lead to 43-40 with 13.6 seconds left.
“I didn’t think they were going to attempt that pass, but they did and it worked out pretty well,” Corsinetti said with a smile.
Smithfield’s Julia Mitchell would get fouled with 4.1 seconds remaining, making one of her two attempts to bring her team within two, 43-41.
Moretti was fouled with 2.6 seconds to go and put the Sentinels’ comeback hopes to rest. She drilled both ends of her 1-and-1, going 6-for-8 from the charity stripe in total, to boost the advantage back out to two possessions with barely enough time for one.
“That’s what they’re going to have to do,” Corsinetti said of his team’s resolve in the final minutes. “A lot of times with our offense, we want our kids to get that experience. A lot of good things that they’re doing at young ages, and we’re benefitting from it.”
Johnston’s top scorer held the clutch mantle during the first half. Smithfield tried to put the game away early after it jumped out to a 15-6 lead. Then, the Panthers shored up their efforts inside and forced shots from beyond the arc. Smithfield had difficulty hitting them, and Moretti went into overdrive.
“Jordan put up a couple of triple-doubles last year,” Corsinetti said of the sole junior in a starting five of sophomores. “She has that ability. She was off today, she’s not in her midseason form yet as far as her shooting, but she’s just a sparkplug. You watch her play and everybody feeds off of what she can do. She’s the first player on the court for a loose ball. She does a lot for this program.”
She posted eight consecutive points by herself, finishing the run off with a steal-and-score to tie the score at 15. Her next shot gave Johnston its first lead of the afternoon, 17-15, with about five minutes to go.
That scoring stretch fueled the Panthers’ scoring attack, allowing them to take a slim, 22-20, lead into the break before a back-and-forth second half.
Next up for the young Panthers is their first D-II contest of the season at home against Mount Saint Charles tonight at 7 p.m. The Mounties have yet to play a game this year, but are coming off a 16-1 season in D-III during which they finished as the league runners-up.
“Any win is a good win, especially this early, so we’re happy about that,” Corsinetti said. “We’re competitive. I know where we are able to be. In spurts, we play very, very well. In spurts, we look like we start four sophomores. So we’re going to experience those growing pains as we go forward. We make those mistakes, we learn from them and hopefully we don’t make them anymore come playoff season. We’ll be OK.”
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