By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

 PAWTUCKET --- With less than three weeks to go in the regular season and Tolman High still needing a few more victories to solidify a playoff spot, the last thing the Tigers can afford to do is take a night off from its competition.
On Tuesday against crosstown rival Shea High, the Tigers didn’t bring their ‘A’ game -- or for most of the night, their ‘B’ game -- but they were still able to break away late and come away with a 51-35 triumph that gave them their third Division II-Central win in their last four games.
The Tigers outscored the Raiders by a 17-8 count in the game’s final 7:10 to boosted their division record to 5-8 and overall mark to 8-10, but the victory was the only thing that pleased head coach Tammy Drape.
“I was really concerned about this game because anything can happen when you play your crosstown rivals,” added Drape, whose squad posted a closer-than-it-looks 44-27 win over the Raiders in their previous meeting back on Dec. 30 at Donaldson Gym.      
“We got off to a very slow start and probably played our best basketball in the last five minutes of the game. I told the girls, ‘We have to come out and play the whole 32 minutes, not five.’ And our defense was inconsistent and we have to play better defense that we did tonight.”
Speaking of defense, one team that has quietly played excellent ‘D’ all year long has been the Raiders. But after 17 contests, they have yet to score over 40 points, and that has played a major role in their dismal 1-16 season.   
“We have problems scoring,” said Shea coach John Lickert, whose team is winless in 13 division games. “Defensively, all year we’ve been keeping teams under 50, but when you can’t score 40, you’re not going to win too many games. What are you going to do?”
The Raiders’ offensive woes were evident in the early going, as the Tigers, riding their hot outside shooting, broke out to a quick 10-2 lead, held off a mini run by the Raiders, and led by nine (23-14) with less than two minutes to play in the first half.
The Raiders then responded with consecutive layups by Monsurat Ajasa and Kayla Davis, followed by an open jumper by Davis, in the final 70 seconds to narrow their gap to three, but the Tigers struck again on a buzzer-beating jumper by April Maine to give them a 25-20 lead at the break.  
In the second half, the Tigers tried to again pull away from the Raiders by getting a pair of quick layups from center Jenna Ayala, but after a time-out by Lickert, the Raiders responded with the next two baskets.
With 10 minutes to go, the Tigers led by six (32-26), and after both squads went into a lull offensively for the next three minutes, Tolman took charge and ran off eight straight points that extended into their game-ending 17-8 run.   
“(Shea) had nothing to lose and everything to gain, so we’ll just take it as a win and move on,” noted Drape. “We just want to take things one game at a time and try not to look ahead.”
Four players did the bulk of the scoring for the Tigers, led by point guard Leanne Fanning, who tossed in a game-high 13 points, and Ayala, who ran into early foul trouble, yet ended up with a double-double that consisted of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Maria Lopera also tossed in 10 points, and Amy Fernandes added nine, but also handed out nine assists.
Shea received 10 points each from Janelle DeBarros and Shanice Fortes.
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TOLMAN (51): Maria Lopera 4 2-4 10, Amy Fernandes 4 0-0 9, Leanna Fanning 6 0-0 13, Sheila DosSantos 0 0-0 0, April Maine 1 0-0 2, Jenna Ayala 5 2-2 12, Cassie Gustafson 2 1-2 5. Totals: 22 5-8 51.
SHEA (35): Janelle DeBarrros 5 0-0 10, Sarah Kemorokot 0 0-0 0, Stacy Afonseca 0 3-4 3, Kayla Davis 3 0-0 7, Shanice Fortes 3 4-6 10, Michelle Vieira 1 0-0 3, Veronica DosSantos 0 0-2 0, Rebecca Taylor 1 0-2 2. Totals: 13 7-17 35.
Three-point field goals: Fernandes, Fanning, Davis, Vieira.
Halftime: Tolman, 25-20.
JV: Shea, 27-20.