Lady Knights 2nd Half Surge Earns Victory Over Lions 81-45!

11.30.18

Warwick, R.I. – November 30, 2018: The CCRI Lady Knights traveled to Gateway Community College in New Haven, CT for a Region XXI non-league game. The Lady Knights defeated the Lions of Gateway 81-45. With the victory CCRI improves to 3-5 on the season and 2-1 in Region XXI play.

The Lady Knights were coming off a tough loss to Massasoit on Tuesday and wanted to reverse their fortune with a big regional victory. However the Lions' Amber Crawford who is ranked No. 11 in the NJCAA (DIII) in scoring with 24.8 points per game had other ideas. Crawford scored 10 points in the first quarter including two 3-pointers. CCRI answered with Olivia Batastini-Pallister (Providence, RI) who drained two 3-pointers herself while Co-Captains Jada Littlejohn (Providence, RI) and Kat Raposo (Warwick, RI) added four points apiece to give CCRI a narrow 16-15 lead after one quarter.

Once again Crawford went off in the second quarter scoring 15 of Gateways' 17 points including three 3-pointers. Co-Captain Kat Raposo tried to keep the scoring pace with Crawford by scoring eight points in the second while getting help with 3-pointers from Littlejohn and Batastini-Pallister. The Lady Knights went into halftime with a 33-32 lead.

At the half Head Coach Doug Haynes knew he had to make an adjustment. His answer was to switching to a box and one to stifle Crawford's offensive efforts. This was the move that triggered the separation of the score for the Lady Knights. The Lady Knights broke open the one point half time game with the smothering defensive effort combined with an aggressive, attacking offense. In the third quarter CCRI held Gateway to just two points and zero for Crawford. CCRI took a 56-34 lead into the fourth quarter and never looked back winning by the final count of 81-45. Co-Captains Kat Raposo and Jada Littlejohn led the effort on defense. Olivia Batastini-Pallister ran the offense and shot the ball well, and all of the players were instrumental in a good team win.

Leading the way for CCRI was Co-Captain Kat Raposo who recorded a double-double but almost charted a quadruple-double with a game-high 28 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and nine steals. Fellow Co-Captain Jada Littlejohn also had an excellent game with a double-double of 27 points and a team-high 15 rebounds with four assists and three steals. More importantly the two Co-Captains held Amber Crawford scoreless in the second half. Also helping the Lady Knights was Olivia Batastini-Pallister with 12 points on four 3-pointers with four assists. Co-Captain Waleska Kelly (Pawtucket, RI) scored six points with 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, Kelly is ranked No. 6 by the NJCAA (DII) in blocked shots with 3.0 per game and Faith Fahnbulleh (Providence, RI) did an excellent job on the boards ripping down a career-high 14 rebounds.

The next game for the Lady Knights will be next Saturday December 8th when they travel to Genesee Community College to take part in the Cougar Holiday Classic. Saturday they will play the host Genesee CC at 1pm and Sunday they will face the Thunderwolves of Niagara County Community College at 11am.

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The Community College of Rhode Island, New England's largest comprehensive community college, enrolls nearly 15,000 students in credit courses and thousands more in non-credit and job training classes. Its athletic program boasts 12 varsity programs and an academic support program for all student-athletes.