Panthers come up short against D-I Saints

The Johnston Lady Panther basketball team has proven it can hang with Division I teams, beating Smithfield and losing a close game with Moses Brown earlier this month.

On Tuesday night at home, the Panthers came seconds away from beating another D-I team in Saint Raphael Academy, ultimately falling to the Lady Saints, 51-50, in what turned out to be a very exciting game that had fans on the edge of their seats for the full 32 minutes.

“It was a great learning experience for us,” said Johnston head coach Chris Corsinetti. “This game was strictly for valuable experience and a confidence booster, that’s why we schedule these non-league games. This was a game we thought and knew we could win and we showed some passion tonight.”

Johnston falls to 4-2 overall, but still stands at 2-0 in Division II-North, while the Saints improve to 3-3 overall and have a Division I record of 0-2 in their first year in the state’s top division. Johnston leading scorer Jordan Moretti did not score until there were three minutes left in the first half, but the Panthers received key offensive contributions from Gabriella DiRaimo, Caroline Howe and Amelia Moore, who kept the game close in the first 16 minutes.

“Not all the points came from Jordan Moretti tonight and we had nice distribution from other players. We spread it out,” said Corsinetti.

Moretti scored five points with under three minutes to play in the first half, giving her team a 24-16 lead. The Saints, however, would take a 27-25 lead into the break on an Angelique Washington bucket as time expired in the first half. The Saints’ leading scorer, Kasey Gagan, was also held scoreless until late in the first half, as she rattled off 11 first-half points that helped her team secure a two-point halftime lead. The Saints’ captain would finish with a game-high 19 points in the contest. Saint Raphael opened up an early, 36-31 second-half lead, but DiRaimo hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 1. DiRaimo would score 10 points and haul in seven rebounds on the night.

Moretti gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half at 41-40 with a steal and lay-in with 6:30 left in the game. Two Moore free throws gave Johnston a 43-40 lead and Moretti would complete a 3-point play after another steal and lay-in, giving her team a 46-42 advantage. Moretti just missed a triple double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine steals. Gagan regained the lead for the Saints, 47-46, with just over two minutes left on the game clock, but Moretti came up big with another layup to give Johnston a 50-49 lead with less than a minute to go in regulation.

Johnston had a chance to up its lead in that final minute, but missed some layups. After two missed Panther free throws, Gagan sent a bounce pass to Monet Gailloux, who converted the game-winning layup with just four seconds left.

The Panthers called timeout and would have to travel the length of the court to get a good shot off, but the Saints’ Page O’Brien stole the inbounds pass to end a thrilling game.

“You want to win the game, but I am happy with how the team played, and this was a big confidence booster for us,” Corsinetti said. “Scoring 50 points against a Division I team is pretty good for us. We out-rebounded them in the first half and that's where we got killed on the boards in years past and we earned our points tonight. I'm looking from an emotional standpoint, there are some sad faces, which shows that we have a lot of passion on this team. They wanted it tonight.”

Moore contributed 10 points and 10 boards, while Howe scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Panthers.

“That bounce pass to Monet from Gagan was big,” said Saints’ head coach Tammy Drape. “Gagan's shots were not falling, but later in the game, she attacked the rim and dished. She proved that she is our go-to player and she makes everyone around her better. Johnston did not quit. They are a great Division II team. They missed some bunnies at the end, but if they hit those, it is a different game. We are starting to get better and we still have a lot of work to do. We have to work on our turnovers. We had way too many tonight.” The Panthers will have three road games ahead of them, starting tonight at Bay View for a 7 p.m. scrimmage. They will travel to Tolman on Tuesday and Juanita Sanchez on Thursday as league play will now begin to heat up.