Pats drop non-league game to Moses Brown

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 1/6/15

The Pilgrim girls’ basketball team knew what it was up against heading into Friday afternoon’s game against Moses Brown.

The Pats, who now play in Division III, played in the same subdivision …

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Pats drop non-league game to Moses Brown

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The Pilgrim girls’ basketball team knew what it was up against heading into Friday afternoon’s game against Moses Brown.

The Pats, who now play in Division III, played in the same subdivision – D-II-Central – as the Quakers a season ago.

Moses Brown put the game away early, taking a 31-6 lead into halftime in an eventual 47-18 non-league win.

Head coach Ian Smith knew that it would be an uphill battle when the game was scheduled prior to the season, but he’s hoping that the loss against a highly-skilled team like the Quakers will make his team better in the long-run.

“They’re a great team and they’re going to have a great season in Division II,” Smith said. “We’ve been opponents in D-II the last few years, so we scheduled the game knowing what we were both going to get out of it.”

There were definitely some positives for Pilgrim, however. The Pats were able to settle in during the second half, as Moses Brown only outscored Pilgrim 16-12 after halftime. Overall, Pilgrim was able to leave the game feeling pretty good about itself, generating some better looks on the offensive end and forcing some misses on defense.

“The game served its purpose,” Smith said. “We had a lot of girls do some good things today against top-level competition. That will hopefully carry over into our Division III league season.”

The game was all but over in the first five minutes of the first half. Pilgrim was sloppy with the ball, leading to turnovers and easy baskets for Moses Brown. In addition to the turnovers by Pilgrim, it seemed like the Quakers just couldn’t miss to open the game, as they jumped out to a 16-0 lead just 4:38 into the game.

The Pats ended the 16-0 run when Jeriann Evans drove the ball to the basket and got fouled, making 1-of-2 free throws. But by that time, the damage had already been done.

“We didn’t play a very clean game in the first half,” Smith said. “They forced a lot of our turnovers, but we were also careless. It was as much their doing as it was ours.”

Senior captain Alexa Annotti added three points in the first half for the Pats, while Crystal Armstrong accounted for the other two points on a basket in the paint.

Moses Brown’s Victoria Caruolo paced the Quakers with eight points in the opening half en route to their 31-6 halftime lead.

But coming out of the locker room, it looked like a completely different game.

Pilgrim had the first possession of the second half and set the tone, as Evans again made 1-of-2 free throws after getting fouled on a hard drive to the hoop.

“We played a much cleaner game in the second half,” Smith said. “I thought we definitely got better between the first half and the second half, which is all I could ask for at halftime.”

Pilgrim took care of the ball much better after halftime, as Moses Brown wasn’t getting the easy transition layups that it was getting in the first half. Rather, it had to settle for tough, contested jump shots in the half-court.

“We certainly took care of the ball better (in the second half) and we trusted our offense,” Smith said. “We didn’t really force anything. We let the game come to us and we slowed it down a little bit. The way they played defense in the first half really sped us up. We’re still working on gaining the experience to recognize that and slow things down.”

On the offensive end, Annotti once again led the Pats in the second half, scoring five of the team’s 12 points, while compiling a game-high eight points for the game.

That’s the type of leadership that Smith and the Pats need from Annotti on the floor, as she’s the only senior on the roster this season.

“She’s our senior and she’s a great leader on and off the court,” Smith said. “She grinds and she works hard for all of her points. Every game I don’t know who the leading scorer is going to be and then I look at the scorebook and there’s Alexa with consistent numbers every game.”

In addition to Annotti’s eight points, Armstrong chipped in with six, while Evans and Erin Plowman each had two.

The Quakers were led by three players with eight points apiece – Caruolo and Oluchi and Ogechi Ezemma.

Smith is hoping that his team will now be better prepared for league play, as Moses Brown presented them with a level of play that they won’t typically see throughout the course of their season.

The Pats are still in a good spot at 1-1 in D-III and will now prepare for a big week, as they’ll play both of their intra-city rivals in the same week.

Pilgrim will host Toll Gate at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, before traveling to Warwick Vets on Thursday for a 7 p.m. tip.

The Pats are excited to get into the thick of their league schedule.

“Every game from here on out counts towards playoffs, which is our goal,” Smith said.

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