Girls basketball state semifinals: Juanita Sanchez, Ponaganset win, will clash for the title

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The girls basketball state final that nobody could have predicted will happen on Sunday at the Ryan Center and all it took was a little history and the best fourth-quarter comeback you’ll ever see.

A Division II team has never had a chance to win a state championship. On Saturday, using defense, a dominating performance from Sabanna Berrios and some clutch free throws, Juanita Sanchez changed that with a 45-41 win over Cranston West.

Ponaganset wasn’t supposed to get to Sunday. The Chieftains won the Division II title, moved to D-I, got bounced early from the D-I tourney last month and trailed by double digits most of the second half against undefeated North Kingstown.

Down the stretch, Ponaganset made plays that mattered, hit enough free throws and completed the comeback of all comebacks in a 62-57 win over the Skippers.

“If we win this, it’s big,” said Berrios, who scored 19 points to go with 14 rebounds in Juanita Sanchez’s win over Cranston West. “We’re Juanita, the South Side of Providence. It would be big for us.

“Who we play doesn’t matter. We’re still going to play hard whichever team we get.”

That team will be Ponaganset, which even in the moments after the game was acting like what happened Saturday was a dream.

“I can’t believe this,” said Samantha McFee, who was instrumental in the comeback with free throws in the final minute and a big steal to help seal the win. “I don’t think any of us expected this when we started playing this season and it just feels really great to be here.”

The two semifinals were played in very different styles.

Juanita Sanchez and Cranston West

Juanita Sanchez and Cranston West made it no secret as to how they were going to try to win. The defenses dominated and the Cavaliers took a 22-19 lead into halftime after Sa’Myra Pina hit a 3-pointer.

“It doesn’t matter where I’m at,” Pina said. “It was very big. We had confidence and that was it.”

Cranston West fought back in the third quarter as Maylina Cotto-Santiago caught fire. She made two layups to start the second half that put the Falcons up for the first time all afternoon, then hit a field goal that gave the Falcons a 26-22 lead with 4:50 left in the third quarter.

That lead grew to 30-24 after a Cotto-Santiago layup but the Cavaliers never looked like they were letting the game get away. Down four, sophomore Charlize Romero buried a jumper at the buzzer that made it 32-30 heading to the fourth.

Berrios took control from there. She made a layup 1:33 into the fourth to tie it, had a putback to tied the game again at 34, then hit two free throws that put Juanita Sanchez up for good at 36-34 with 4:12 left.

The Cavaliers’ defense played well down the stretch. Cranston West led, 34-32, with 5:28 left, but the Falcons managed only two points over the next 4:30.

“We just play defense,” Berrios said. “Shut the best players down and we got it.”

“The main reason is Genny,” Pina said of All-Stater Genesis McNeill, who was a force atop the Cavaliers' 2-3 zone. “She turns all of us. Everything starts with her.”

Cranston West made things interesting at the end when Cotto-Santiago hit a 3-pointer to make it 44-41 with 8.9 seconds left. The Falcons fouled Romero, a reserve sophomore who was pressed into more minutes Saturday after Pina fouled out.

Romero stepped to the line and buried the first free throw, sealing the win.

“She should be very proud of herself. She works hard just like us,” Berrios said. “… Even though she doesn’t get in that much she’s a big factor.”

The loss ended a Cinderella run for Cranston West. The Falcons were disappointed in Saturday’s loss but walked out of the Ryan Center proud of what they had accomplished this season.

“To see where the program was our freshman year, watching the game and watching us not even make the playoffs, it’s hard to believe we’re here now,” senior Catherine Albizu said. “It’s incredible.”

Ponaganset and North Kingstown

Incredible is a perfect way to describe what happened in the second game.

North Kingstown jumped out early, with Gatorade Player of the Year Jillian Rogers scoring 15 of her game-high 26 points in the first half to put the Skippers up, 30-26.

The lead grew, increasing to as much as 12 in the third quarter. It was 10 in the fourth.

Something changed in that final quarter. The Chieftains didn’t look flustered or frustrated; they just kept playing hard. They got the lead to single digits and worked it down possession by possession until a McFee bucket tied the game with 2:13 left.

“We have confidence. We just play through everything,” Ponaganset senior Campbell Boyden said. “We were down — I don’t know how many we were down. We just have confidence and we all play together.”

Related: North Kingstown's Jillian Rogers named Gatorade RI Girls Basketball Player of the Year

The Chieftains outscored North Kingstown in the final 90 seconds with all their points coming from the free-throw line, with Boyden, Jaina Yekelchick, McFee making enough to put points on the board.

“Free throws are always a lot of pressure, especially with the game on the line,” said McFee, who finished with 14 points. “I’m just glad we made as many as we did.”

Ponaganset and Juanita Sanchez were Division II foes two years ago. The Cavaliers jumped to D-I last winter before moving back down and winning the D-II title this winter. The Chieftains are the reigning D-II champs and now have a chance to be state champs.

Neither team knows what to expect on Sunday.

But neither team minds.

“We just want it. We want to prove we can compete with the top teams,” Juanita Sanchez’s McNeill said. “We just want to play. Win or lose, it’s still big for us.”

“We’ve just got to play like we did [on Saturday],” McFee said. “You go out, play your best and whatever happens, happens.”

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Juanita Sanchez, Ponaganset will clash for the RI girls basketball championship