Junior power forward Valarie Biascochea and sophomore center Sakira Wilson accounted for nearly four-fifths of their team's offense on Monday as the Warriors overcame an unusually-high 37 turnovers to score a 42-38 win over Our Lady of Fatima High in their Division 3 regular-season finale -- and the Warriors' 'Senior Night' -- at Central Falls High.

As a result of CF's triumph, the Warriors and the Tigers will renew acquaintances next week in the semifinals of the four-team Division 3 playoffs at Rhode Island College.

"That's a big gutcheck coming off those two losses," added CF coach Joe Handy. "We didn't play particularly well in our last three games, and it's scary because it's a momentum breaker. We were 10-1 going into last week, and then we lose those two games and finish our season playing another tough team in Fatima. But tonight, I thought we bounced back nicely and did a very good job."

Speaking of the Tigers, had they topped the Warriors, they would have finished the season with the same record as Hope (12-2) and claimed the tiebreaker for the regular-season crown thanks to their back-to-back 61-43 victories over the Blue Wave on Jan. 28 and 30.

"They had first place to lose," offered Handy, whose crew absorbed their most lopsided defeat of the year to OLOF back on Jan. 16 -- a 53-26 loss at the Tigers' gym in Warren. "The pressure was on them, it wasn't on us. The first time we played them, they jumped out to a 32-6 lead and we never got back into the game, but tonight, we made some adjustments and played much better."

Two adjustments Handy made were on defense, as they focused on containing Meaghan Welford, OLOF's 5-foot-9 junior center, and Sara Morrison, the Tigers' senior guard and top shooter. Welford, who had to contend with the Warriors' 5-foot-10 inside presence of Biascochea and Wilson in the paint, netted just eight points, and Morrison did not score.

"I really wanted to concentrate on the girls that hurt us the last game, Welford and Morrison," said Handy. "We figured if we could slow them down, we'd be in good shape, so we put some frontcourt pressure on those girls and we got a little more physical inside."

While the night belonged to the Warriors' three seniors, guards Tatiana Baena and Sonia Mena and forward Ashley Delgado, it was ruled by the inside play of Biascochea and Wilson, who helped the Warriors score 14 of their 15 field goals in the paint.

Biascochea scored a game-high 17 points and ripped down 16 rebounds, while WIlson finished with 15 points and a career-high 19 boards. Biascochea accounted for her team's lone field goal outside the paint, as she bagged an open jumper off a pass from Baena with 6:41 to go in the game to give the hosts a 30-20 command.

"We controlled the boards by far," added Handy. "It was nice to see those two players come up big and have nice games tonight."

Baena, the Warriors' top scoring threat with a 12.5 ppg. average, only netted six points as she was the center of the Tigers' attention and closely guarded by junior guard Kara Ramsey, but she had a wonderful showing defensively with eight steals (six in the second half), and along with sophomore forward Halie Webb (eight rebounds), handed out four assists.

"The last time we played them, they put Tatiana in a box-and-one, and I knew she was going to get special attention again tonight," said Handy. "So I told her, 'We're going to sacrifice our offense and waste a girl by letting her follow you. We want to have our other girls step up and attack the middle. We want to push the ball, and if they score, we want to push it out and run with them.' We wanted to get them tired. The playoffs are coming and the courts get bigger."

Both teams hardly resembled a playoff team on Monday. While the hosts ended up with their large number of turnovers (21 coming in the first half), the Tigers weren't far behind with 31, and while the Warriors shot a touch over 25 percent (15-for-59) from the floor, OLOF was 22 percent (15-for-69).

Neither squad scored in the game's first three minutes, and the Warriors didn't net their first points until Wilson tucked in a layup with 9:55 on the clock. But that layup kickstarted a 12-point run that saw the Tigers go scoreless for a span of seven-plus minutes and give the hosts a 12-4 cushion.

Back-to-back layups by Welford and Ramsey in the final 39.1 seconds of the half cut the Warriors' lead to five (15-10) at the break, and in the opening minute of the second half, CF's lead slipped to 17-13, but the visitors endured another drought of seven-plus minutes and that helped the Warriors put together another run that gave them their biggest lead of the night, 28-14, with 8:05 still to play.

But the contest was far from over. Junior guard Devin Arsensault, who led the Tigers with 12 points, produced all of them on four three-point shots in the final 7:40 of the game. Her first two interrupted the Warriors' 11-point run, and her third capped an 11-5 run by the Tigers that trimmed CF's lead to a basket (35-33) with 2:45 on the clock.

But the Warriors responded with a pair of free throws by Wilson with 2:35 to go, and after an OLOF turnover, Biascochea clicked on a layup off a nice pass by Webb with 2:04 on the clock.

Arsenault then responded with her fourth trey with 1:46 to go, but the Warriors soon made it a two-possession game again on free throws by Wilson and Baena. The Tigers wouldn't score again until Welford put in an uncontested layup with 6.5 seconds on the clock.