Tiverton's Samantha Sando is sandwiched between Nifaty Morales (left) and Brianne Morgera and draws a foul during the Tigers loss to Rogers Friday night. Joe Marcello
TIVERTON — Jasmine Valdes’s fifth three-pointer of the night turned out the lights on the Tiverton girls’ basketball team’s comeback when Division Two-South leading Rogers topped the Tigers 60-51 Friday night.
Sarah Whiston’s floater over the outstretched arms of Brianne Morgera with 1:37 left enabled the Tigers to hack what once was a Rogers 15-point lead down to four points. However, Valdes nailed her three from the left wing just 24 seconds later on the next possession to push the lead to what proved to be an insurmountable margin.
“It actually felt very good because it’s my senior year,” Valdes said. “Just knowing I helped the team with a win. I put them away.”
Valdes had one three in the opening half, a shot which actually gave the Vikings a lead they never relinquished, then hit three consecutive threes from the right corner early in the second half to spark a 12-point Viking run which upped the advantage to 49-34 with just under 10 minutes to play.
“Those hurt. I don’t think she’s had a game like that all year,” said Tiverton coach Scott Thiboutot. “Coming in our strategy was to try and get them to beat us from the outside because obviously, the big kid (Morgera), you’ve got to pick your poison.”
Morgera finished with a game-high 18 points on eight hoops, all scored from under the basket, and two free throws. She scored a dozen points in the opening half, adeptly gathering teammates’ lofted passes before turning and scoring off the glass.
“We had one girl front her and one girl back and said, ‘OK guards, now you have to work,’” Thiboutot said. “You’ve got to pop back out. Then we saw Jasmine hit those threes, that was a big swing for them.”
The Tigers were able to stay close to the Vikings thanks to their own three-point shooting. Tiverton had 11 field goals in the opening half and seven of them were three-pointers. The Tigers were 7-for-17 from beyond the arc in the first 16 minutes, good for 41 percent.
“They were on fire,” Rogers coach Frank Brow said. “Our defense wasn’t that good tonight but yeah, they were shooting it well. They didn’t shoot that well down at our place.
“They worked the clock down to get a good shot and did a good job. Scotty’s done a good job with those girls. They’re playing really well.”
Up by two at halftime, Morgera scored back-to-back hoops to begin the second half eliciting a Tiverton timeout. Haley Higginbottom drained a three from the right corner to bring the Tigers back to within three points with exactly 13 minutes left.
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That’s when Valdes scorched the nets from long distance. She answered the Higginbottom three with one of her own just 16 seconds later from the right corner. After a missed Tiverton three, Valdes drained another trey from the same spot. A Tiverton turnover led to Valdes’ third consecutive shot from just about the same spot on the floor. She scored nine points in a 63-second span.
“The corner is my favorite spot to shoot,” said Valdes. “Again, the passing was on point. I put my hands up they gave it straight to my hands. If I start low, I can tell right away it’s not going in. But if I start high and I know I’m set and I’m squared, it’s going in.”
With the lead still at 14 with 5:19 to play the Tigers made their final push with the help of three straight Rogers’ turnovers. Whiston scored off a fast break, Emily Masse nailed a three from the right corner and then scored again, this time for two points, on a right-wing jumper.
Masse became the fifth Tiverton player to sink a three and the Tigers finished with nine three-pointers as they took advantage of the Rogers’ defense.
“Teams usually don’t come out in a 2-3 against us,” Thiboutot said. “When they came out in the 2-3 we worked the ball well. We hit some shots. It made a big difference. We have some good shooters.”
Mariah Caldwell capped the Tiverton run with a basket from in the paint to narrow the lead to 53-48. Nifaty Morales drove to the hoop and scored for the Vikings to put an end to their three-minute drought. Tiverton’s Jackie Carmichael sank a free throw and Whiston hit her floater before Valdes ruined the night with her final three.
It was the fourth straight setback for Tiverton, a streak which lowered its league record to 6-9. The Tigers already are assured a playoff berth and are jockeying for playoff position in a tightly-packed Division Two-South.
“We’re now 6-9. We’ve got three games left,” Thiboutot said. “Our goal, long term is 9-9. We will get there. We’re improving.”
Valdes scored all 15 of her points from behind the arc and Morales finished with 12 points, half from the free throw line. Morgera just missed a double-double and had nine rebounds.
Higginbottom had a team-high 11 points for Tiverton and along with Caldwell, grabbed a team-best four rebounds. Sam Welchman scored nine points, all on threes, Caldwell had eight points and Whiston had six.
Rogers shot 45 percent (21-for-47) from the floor compared to 36 percent (19-for-53) for Tiverton. The Tigers were just 2-for-13 from three in the second half and 9-for-30 (30 percent) overall. Rogers shot 7-for-17 (41 percent) from three-point land and was 11-for-20 (55 percent) from the free throw stripe. Tiverton made just four of 14 free throws (29 percent). Rogers had a 32-22 rebounding edge while Tiverton had 17 turnovers compared to 19 for the Vikings.


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