Schools

Ryan Center Live Blog: State Basketball Championships

Join us Friday night and all of Saturday, as we blog from the Ryan Center for the state basketball championships.

KINGSTON – Can’t make it to South County for the basketball semifinal and championship games Friday night and all-day Saturday? Fear not! Patch has you covered.

We will be live blogging from both games Friday night, and all four championships on Saturday.

Are you going to the game, and want to follow and comment via your mobile phone? iPhone users can download it here, and Android users can go here. Until the games start, feel free to queue up any questions in the chat applet – We should be blogging about 30 minutes before the tip.

Find out what's happening in Narragansett-South Kingstownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Not sure who’s playing? Check out our mini-previews below.

Boys’ State Basketball Championship

Find out what's happening in Narragansett-South Kingstownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The semifinals of the boys’ state tournament start 6 p.m. Friday, as La Salle (21-4, 15-3 Division I) takes on Hope (13-11, 9-9 Division I). That game is followed by Rogers High School (20-6, 14-4 Division II) of Newport vs. Central High School (17-5, 14-4 Division I) at 8 p.m.

Rogers got to the semifinals by upsetting the top overall seed, Division I North Kingstown, 54-46 in the Sweet 16 round. Rogers also beat Division I Shea and Division III Middletown.

According to records kept at Rhode Island High School Sports, Rogers last won a boys’ basketball championship in 1993. The school has won seven championships dating back to the New England title in 1925 and 1931.

The winners of Friday night’s games have a quick turnaround. The finals for the boys’ tournament are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Ryan Center.

Girls’ Division III Title – Middletown vs. Juanita Sanchez

Saturday’s championship games begin at 11 a.m., as No. 2 seed Middletown (18-3, 16-3 Division III) takes on No. 1 Juanita Sanchez (22-3, 18-0 Division III).

Middletown is looking to repeat as a Division III champion. Last year, the Islanders beat Central 52-32. For photos and Patch’s coverage of that win, click . Last year’s championship was the first ever for Middletown in girls’ basketball.

This year’s Division III bracket went all-chalk. Middletown defeated Bishop Keough in the semifinals to make the finals, after getting an opening round bye. Only six teams qualified for the Division III playoffs.

If Middletown can win a second championship, it would be a heck of an upset. The Islanders lost to Juanita Sanchez 67-46 on Feb. 9 and 53-24 at home on Jan. 6.

Girls’ Division II Title – Narragansett vs. Classical

Following the Division III game, the Division II championship is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. tip. No. 2-South Narragansett (21-4, 16-2 Division II-South) takes on No. 2-North Classical (22-5, 14-4 Division II-North).

The Mariners made it to the finals via second half demolitions of top seed Moses Brown, No. 3-North Scituate and No. 7-North Tolman. Narragansett won the three games by an average of 23 points, thanks to a full-court and three-quarter court press that just wore down opposing point guards.

Classical survived a nailbiter against Johnston in the semifinals, as a last-second shot by the Panthers’ Karina Mattera fell short. Johnston upset top-seeded Rogers in the quarterfinals. Narragansett and Classical did not play each other in the regular season.

If Narragansett wins, it would only be their third basketball championship. Narragansett last won in 1994, which followed a championship in 1991. It would also make several players on the team either two or three-time champions, as the Narragansett Division III girls’ soccer team won titles in 2011 and 2010.

Girls’ Division I Title – Bay View vs. La Salle

Bay View will attempt to complete a perfect Division I season by beating La Salle in the Division I girls’ basketball final 4 p.m. Saturday, following the Division II game.

Bay View (21-1, 17-0 Division I-North) survived a 54-53 thriller against Exeter-West Greenwich, coming back in the final minute for the win. Bay View also beat North Kingstown by 17 and Portsmouth by 36 to make the finals.

According to , the team consists of Hanna Lee (North Scituate), Courtney McArthur (Coventry), Taylor Jackvony (Cranston), Nina Anastacio (Pawtucket), Megan Martin (Coventry), Yasmeen Luna (Johnston), Mackenzie Smith (Seekonk), Christina Palavra (Providence), Raquel Pederzani (Coventry), Talia Corsinetti (Johnston), Kristine McCann (Coventry), Rachel Battista (Johnston), Johanna Dombrowski (Cranston) and Vandell Andrade (Providence).

In the regular season, La Salle beat Bay View 51-45 on Dec. 10 in a non-league Injury Fund game. A win would secure Bay View its second girls’ basketball championship – Bay View won the Division I title in 2006.

Again, as a reminder, we will starting live blogging about 30 minutes before games start on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Bookmark this article and check back with us then! If you have any questions before games start, let us know, and we’ll do our best to answer them.

Are you going to be at any of the games, taking photos? Send your best shots to Stephen.greenwell@patch.com!


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