By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

LINCOLN -- Their right ankles may have been sore and cranky, but Lincoln High guard Ashley O’Dell and center Gabby Travis were still able to inflict some pain on St. Raphael Academy on Friday night.
O’Dell nearly came through with a triple-double with 15 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, and seven steals, and Travis only had seven points, but tore down 15 rebounds to help the Lions net a 56-44 victory over the host Saints in their Division I-North meeting.
Junior guard Stephanie Prusko’s 18 points also fueled the Lions, who raised their division record to 7-5 and overall mark to 9-6. The loss was the fourth in the last five games for the Saints, who fell to 4-7 in division play and 8-8 overall.
O’Dell and Travis missed the Lions’ last game -- an ugly 51-28 defeat on the road Tuesday night to North Kingstown High -- with sprained right ankles, but were good to go on Friday and helped their team snap a mini two-game slide after reeling off five straight victories.    
“I don’t think either one of them were 100 percent, but they really toughed it out and played good games,” noted Lincoln assistant coach John Aurecchia. He ran the show in place of head coach Mike Bedrossian, who was serving a one-game suspension for getting ejected from the game against NK.
The Lions led throughout the game, used a 9-2 run midway through the first half to break open a tight contest and take a 19-10 lead, and soared into the break with a 30-18 lead when Prusko bagged a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the top of the key.
In the early stages of the second half, the Lions appeared to have the contest well in hand after rattling off 10 straight points and owning their largest lead of the night, 43-25, with 10:26 to play.
But the Saints would march off quietly into the night. With 5:35 to go, they had an eight-point run that helped them trim their deficit into double figures, and with 3:55 on the clock, back-to-back layups by senior forward Christina Hopper made it a six-point affair (48-42) and kept everyone on the edges of their seats.
Both teams then struggled to find their shots and managed two points for the next two-and-a-half minutes, as the Lions missed six free throws during that span and the Saints botched a handful of easy layups.
But after the Lions missed a pair of free throws with 1:14 left, O’Dell came through with a pair of layups off her sixth and seventh steals to ice the duel. Her first layup came off a theft at midcourt, and seconds later, she stole the Saints’ inbound pass and quickly threw in another layup.
“I’m pretty happy with the way we came back,” remarked SRA coach Fred Lashley-Saunders. “I’m glad they showed a little bit of poise, but in the first half, we played slow, methodical, and passive. We just didn’t play our game until the second half, and by then, we were already down 18 points.
“But the kids made a valiant effort coming back. A couple of shots here and there, it could have been a different outcome, but then again, it could have also been a blowout.”
“Our lead was never safe,” said Aurecchia. “St. Ray’s is a tough team that’s very well-coached and has some very good players. They play very well and I think they’re much better than their record indicates.”
As it has been the case all season long, the Saints were paced offensively by their 1-2 punch of senior forward Sharae Hall and Hopper. Hall poured in a game-high 25 points and added seven rebounds, and Hopper had 14 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocked shots.
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LINCOLN (61): Jessica Corio 1 0-2 2, Jessica Carrignan 0 0-0 0, Chelsea Brennan 4 2-6 10, Krista LoCurto 2 0-0 4, Stephanie Prusko 5 6-17 18, Gabby Travis 3 1-2 7, Jenna Desautel 0 0-0 0, Ashley O'Dell 5 4-6 15. Totals: 20 13-33 56.
ST. RAPHAEL (59): Christina Hopper 6 0-0 14, Emily Millar 3 0-0 6, Megan Malloy 0 2-2 2, Alexis Signore 2 0-0 5, Shanika Hodge 2 1-2 5, Sharae Hall 9 4-7 25, Stephanie Stuttard 1 0-0 2, Ebu Shittu 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 14-20 59.
Three-point field goals: Prusko 2, O’Dell, Hall.
Halftime: Lincoln, 30-18.