The players on the St. Raphael Academy girls’ basketball team show off their championship trophies after winning the Donaldson-Lynch Memorial Basketball Tournament last Saturday night at the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket. The Saints defeated last year’s champion, the Tolman/Shea co-op team, 43-32.
Posing for a picture with their All-Tournament trophies are Tolman/Shea junior Armani Rivera, left, and St. Raphael Academy senior Angeliese Melendez, center, who was also the tournament’s MVP, and freshman Tiyara Gonzalez. Central Falls junior Pam Galva and Cumberland junior Allie Casavant rounded out the All-Tournament team.
Tolman/Shea point guard Armani Rivera, left, sticks to the side of St. Raphael Academy freshman Tiyara Gonzalez as Gonzalez tries to run a play. Gonzalez tossed in 10 points for the Saints to help them post a 43-32 win, while Rivera scored 19 to lead her team.
The players on the St. Raphael Academy girls’ basketball team show off their championship trophies after winning the Donaldson-Lynch Memorial Basketball Tournament last Saturday night at the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket. The Saints defeated last year’s champion, the Tolman/Shea co-op team, 43-32.
Posing for a picture with their All-Tournament trophies are Tolman/Shea junior Armani Rivera, left, and St. Raphael Academy senior Angeliese Melendez, center, who was also the tournament’s MVP, and freshman Tiyara Gonzalez. Central Falls junior Pam Galva and Cumberland junior Allie Casavant rounded out the All-Tournament team.
Tolman/Shea point guard Armani Rivera, left, sticks to the side of St. Raphael Academy freshman Tiyara Gonzalez as Gonzalez tries to run a play. Gonzalez tossed in 10 points for the Saints to help them post a 43-32 win, while Rivera scored 19 to lead her team.
PAWTUCKET – After enduring a winless Division I season last winter, the St. Raphael Academy girls’ basketball team came out on top of the Donaldson-Lynch Memorial Basketball Tournament last Saturday night by defeating the tourney’s defending champion, the Tolman/Shea co-op team, 43-32, at the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket.
Last season, Tolman/Shea, which captured the Division III championship, ended SRA’s bid to claim its fifth straight tournament title, but the Saints, who played last Saturday’s game with a limited number of players on their bench, came back to defeat their crosstown rival.
Offensively, senior Angeliese Melendez had an outstanding game for the Saints that earned her the tourney’s Most Valuable Player honors. She scored a game-high 28 points that included a 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line.
“I just can’t say enough about Angeliese,” said SRA head coach Tammy Drape. “She has obviously put the work in during the offseason and came back a completely different player with a different mindset.”
Defensively, the Saints’ strategy was to go after Tolman/Shea’s star point guard, junior Armani Rivera, and keep her under wraps. Freshman guard Tiyara Gonzalez got the job to defend her, and even though Rivera scored 19 points, Gonzalez made Rivera fight for everything she got.
“Overall, we were able to stay together and do the little things that mattered,” Drape said. “Hats off to Shea/Tolman; they have some really good big girls inside and Armani Rivera, but Tiyara did a great job defending her. That’s a difficult task.”
“Tiyara is our energizer bunny – that’s what I’ve named her,” Drape added. “She has a very, very high basketball IQ, and that always makes my job look easier.”
Tolman/Shea, which moved up to Division II this season, lost a co-head coach in Walter “Bunky” Gonzalez, who decided to step down so he could follow his daughter, Gonzalez, as she plays for the Saints. John Lickert remains the other co-head coach, and he’s joined by former Tolman boys’ assistant coach Kimball Crossley.
The co-op team jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in last Saturday’s game and eventually ended the opening quarter ahead by a 7-5 score. Both teams got more comfortable in the second quarter, and after Gonzalez tied the score with a basket, Tolman/Shea came back with the next four points.
But the Saints quickly responded with a seven-point run to take their first lead, as Melendez tied the score with a basket and then gave SRA the lead with a three-pointer.
Tolman/Shea managed to reclaim its lead in the third quarter, as baskets by Rivera and junior Trinity Burk gave the co-op squad a 21-20 lead. But then Melendez took over, and by the fourth quarter, the Saints had a 30-23 lead that eventually grew into double digits.
“I thought (Melendez) showed great senior leadership,” Drape said of her senior captain. “That was what I felt was the difference in this game. She just decided to take over.”
Gonzalez also ended the night with 10 points for the Saints, who have a few veterans, but a lot of younger talent as well, including freshman Jireh Smith, who is trying to make her presence known under the hoop.
Things will not get any easier for the Saints, who are still in Division I, as they traveled to North Kingstown on Tuesday night to take on the defending D-I champion Skippers.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Drape, whose team will also visit South Kingstown in its next game on Friday at 6 p.m. “I think if they start buying into the system and the philosophy that we have, we’ll be OK.”
After last year’s winless season, Drape said that her team is taking nothing for granted and will focus on one game at a time. SRA’s main goal is to make the playoffs, but the Saints also just really want to improve on last year.
“You can only improve if you were 0-16,” she said. “But it’s going to be tough.”
Tolman/Shea, meanwhile, was back in action on Monday, as the co-op team hit the road to battle Chariho, only to suffer a 47-33 loss that saw the Chargers use a 10-point run at the end of the third quarter to put away the co-op team.
On Friday at 6:30 p.m., Tolman/Shea will host the Prout School at Jenks Junior High’s gym.
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