Lady Panthers drop first game of season to SK

The Johnston girls’ basketball team suffered its first loss of the 2014-15 season last Saturday night at the hands of Division I South Kingstown, 63-56, at Johnston’s Edward L. DiSimone Gymnasium.

The game was evenly-contested until mid-way through the second half, when the Lady Rebels’ 5-foot-10 forward, Celia Tomlinson, took control of the game with her strong inside play.

“Offensively, we know we can put up points, but our problem was we just did not play defense,” Johnston head coach Chris Corsinetti said. “We need to play better defense. We have a tough time defending the interior and if you look at our games historically, any interior player has put up points against us. It is something we need to improve on.”

The Panthers, now 5-1, were coming off of a 64-46 win over Juanita Sanchez, while the Rebels, now 4-4, lost to cross-town rival North Kingstown by 20 points the previous night.

“Nothing went right for us in the North Kingstown game last night,” South Kingstown head coach Amanda Varone said. “We needed this game as a confidence booster, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

She also praised her 5-foot-10 forward.

“Tomlinson is amazing,” Varone said. “She is a great player and at 5-foot-10, she is strong, she can shoot, dribble and drive to the hoop. She is a force to be dealt with and is only a junior.”

Johnston’s Isabella DiRaimo, the team’s second leading scorer on the season with 100 points, picked up three early first-half fouls that limited her playing time.

She would finish with just four points on the night.

With DiRaimo sitting on the bench for most of the first half, some younger players stepped in and filled the scoring void.

“I thought freshman Jordan Moretti gave us a boost point-wise when Isabella picked up those early fouls,” Corsinetti said. “It gave us a chance to get a good look at her and Samantha Hardman, who gives us a lot defensively and always hustles.”

Johnston managed to take a 28-27 lead after a steal and layup with seconds to go in the first half by Francesca Gaudiana, giving it some momentum.

The Panthers played from behind in the second half, as the Lady Rebels opened up a 40-33 lead.

Moretti, who tallied 11 points in the game, then scored five-straight points, while the team’s leading scorer on the season with 102 points, Karina Mattera, tied the game, 40-40 with a two-pointer of her own.

Mattera would finish with a team-high 22 points.

But South Kingstown would go on a 13-4 run and never look back, as Tomlinson’s inside game could not be stopped.

“We kind of run out of gas at times, but not tonight, they wanted to win,” Varone said.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Varone, who played an important role as the starting point guard on the Panther’s 2000 championship team. She earned All-Division honors that year and was named to the All-State team in her senior year in 2001.

“It was fun coming back to Johnston,” Varone said. “Chris Corsinetti is a great coach. I was very nervous that I was going to get out-coached tonight, but the ball bounced our way and we hit our free throws down the stretch. I learned a lot from Chris and Dan Mazzulla, not just about coaching basketball, but how to be mentally strong. My coaches at Johnston prepared me for life, as did my parents. Just the support they gave me as a player, you can’t replicate that. I try to do the same for my girls. They work hard for me without being asked to and you can’t teach that.”

It was a busy night for Varone, who would later participate in the second annual Panthers’ Alumni Basketball Game, which helped to raise money for Johnston’s Campfires for Cancer.

It will also be a very busy week for the Panthers, who will be playing a rescheduled Injury Fund game and a league game at Lincoln High School and at Moses Brown High School. Corsinetti hopes that his seniors can carry them through this important stretch.

“The senior leadership has been good so far this season and we will go as far as they will take us,” Corsinetti said. “It will be a tough week.”