The defending champion Pilgrim girls basketball team picked up a much needed win on Tuesday evening when it rolled past visiting Middletown 37-25. It was the Pats’ first win of the season as they improved to 1-3 before Thursday’s championship rematch against Narragansett.

“It was very important. We needed this one. This was a huge win, especially with us playing Narragansett (on Thursday),” said Pilgrim coach Kaitlyn Rachiele, who returns for her second season.

The team has been turning to senior Amaya Coffie to lead the way after emerging as a key piece to last year’s championship roster. She has lived up to the high expectations so far, and led Pilgrim on Tuesday with a team-high 11 points to go along with six steals on defense.

“It was the best game that I think I’ve ever seen her play. Not only was she driving to the basket, making her layups, but she was finishing and also got six steals. She’s a huge part of this team and provides each game,” said Rachiele.

Ariana Keebler finished the night with 10 points, including two 3-pointers. Jenna Madden will also have a large role this season as a starter and she led the team with 11 points in its loss to Lincoln last week. Coffie finished that game with 10 points scored.

Pilgrim is still searching for answers after graduating last year’s top two scorers in Faith Meade and Gianna Ramos. Along with Coffie, Madden and Keebler, the team will also be looking to players such as Kiera Maher and Lily Hall to make an impact as well. Maher will be filling Meade’s roll as a guard while Hall will be stepping up as a forward.

The team has also been battling illness in the first two weeks and is hoping to use the upcoming break as an opportunity to get healthy and reset.

Rachiele hopes the Pats come back refreshed and ready to get back to championship form by playoff time.

“They’re championship players. They’re still trying to figure each other out even though they’ve played together. I told them at tryouts that we have a huge target on our back. They do feel the pressure, but somebody is going to have to fill those positions,” Rachiele said. “It’s the want… they’ve got to want it.”