Division titles on the line tonight in girls hoops

BY CAROLYN THORNTON
Journal Sports Writer

It should be an exciting night of girls basketball, here on this final night of the regular season, with a few division championships yet to be decided.

The I-Central title will be on the line when Cranston West hosts Bay View, tonight at 7 p.m. Both sport 15-2 records and currently share the top spot in the division. That, of course, will change pending the outcome of this second meeting between the two teams.
Cranston West prevailed the first time they met, defeating the 2008 state finalists, 57-48, in the Bengals' own gym on Feb. 4.

South Kingstown clinched the I-South crown earlier this week. The Rebels rebounded nicely from their loss to division runner-up North Kingstown Monday night, defeating Cranston West the following night. That win put South Kingstown at 14-3 and sewed up the division title for the Rebels in the process.

La Salle wrapped up its third-straight I-North title some time ago. The Rams - who won 11 in a row after suffering their only loss of the season to South Kingstown, a one-pointer on Jan. 15 - conclude their regular season tonight at home against I-North runner-up Ponaganset (11-6) at 7 o'clock.

In Division II, Pilgrim, which concludes the regular season tonight at home against Tolman, has already secured the Central Division title. Central had a chance to tie the 10-7 Patriots for the top spot coming into this week, but dropped a nailbiter to Moses Brown last night. That took the 8-9 Knights out of the running for first, but they remain in a four-way tie for second place with Moses Brown, Tolman and Warwick Vets heading into tonight's final regular-season game at Tiverton.

Meanwhile, Barrington and Portsmouth have finished as co-champs in II-East. Both concluded the regular season at 16-1, with each suffering their only loss to each other.
Prout, which fell to Mount St. Charles on Monday night, but then handily defeated West Warwick last night to finish at 13-4, has edged out Westerly for the II-South crown. The Bulldogs had to settle for second place after dropping a 63-57 decision to third-place Chariho last night that left them at 12-5.

Mount St. Charles has a chance to secure its first division title since taking a share of the regular-season crown with Central when it was playing in Division III back in 2002. A win at Johnston tonight will give the 16-1 Mounties the II-North title outright. Should the Panthers prevail, Mount will finish as division co-champs with 16-2 Woonsocket, which closed the regular season on a five-game winning streak capped by yesterday's win over North Smithfield.

And finally, the Division III regular-season title will be decided this afternoon when Central Falls heads over to Hope for a 4 p.m. matchup. Each team has just one loss. Hope won the first meeting between the teams, 61-45, back in late January. The Blue Wave suffered their only setback last week, a 57-49 decision to Fatima on Feb. 17.

Posted by Carolyn Thornton  at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)