Panthers fall in DII prelims

The 10th-seeded Johnston girls basketball team fell to No.7 Mt. Hope 51-38 in the Division II preliminary round on Tuesday night to close out its season.
Alanna Colon led the Panthers with 18 points while Bella Rivas finished her freshman season strong with nine points.
After reaching the Division IV finals last winter, the Panthers were put to the test this year by being moved up to DII with several new starters, including Colon and Rivas. Johnston held its own in its new division, finishing with six league wins and clinching a playoff spot.
The Panthers built some momentum last week when they won their regular season finale by beating Toll Gate 60-31.
Colon led the way with 21 points while Marissa Morsilli scored 14. Toll Gate was led by Mary McNulty with 20 points.
“It gives us some momentum heading into the playoffs, this was an important win, it was a good win because we all got into the books. We were shooting the ball really well. Bella (Gesualdi) got some points down low, Melissa got in the books. Everyone helped,” said Colon.
Toll Gate led after one quarter, but the Panthers took control early in the second and never looked back.
“It was Coach (Jhamal) Diggs. He pushes us each and every game, he called the first time out, got in our faces yelling at us, then we came out hot. We were cold in the first half but at halftime he told us that we had to pick it up and we did. We started hitting our shots and played really good ball,” said Colon of the team’s turnaround.
Colon was excited to see the young Panthers reach the postseason in the face of adversity this season.
“We’re a young team so we’ve got to keep playing the way we’re playing. Nobody expected us to get to the playoffs. No one wants to see Johnston win and that pushes us. We practice and work hard every day,” Colon said.
The Panthers will now flip the page toward next winter. With no senior this year, Colon, Gesualdi and Rivas are expected to return to the lineup along with Morsilli, Olivia Iafrate and I’daizha Brown, giving the team its entire roster for another season.