By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

CENTRAL FALLS – For the second time in four years, Central Falls High is sending its boys and girls basketball teams to the state championship game. Back in 2006, both CF teams settled for second place in Division III. This time around, the Warriors appear to be favorites to win in each game.
The boys take the floor first, tipping off against Moses Brown at 1 p.m. this afternoon on The Ryan Center floor. The girls will battle Hope High at the same time on Sunday afternoon.
“It is a special feeling,” CF girls coach Joe Handy said earlier this week. “Our girls program has never won a state championship. In my nine years as head coach, this will be our third trip to the finals.”
Handy owns a strong link to the last basketball state title claimed by Central Falls. He played on Ed McVeigh’s 1987 state championship squad.
“I’ve got a lot of great memories of that team,” he admitted.
CF’s boys team owns a pair of wins over Moses Brown this season. The CF girls split their two regular season games with Hope, which ousted the Lady Warriors from the state playoffs in the semifinal round last year.
CF boys coach Brian Crookes understands that his Warriors have to keep doing what they have been doing all season long.
“We have a very balanced team,” said Crookes, who saw all five of his starters score in double figures during their 74-60 victory over Mount St. Charles. Antonio Mena (20 points), George Carle (15), Luis Pena (15), Robert Alers (13) and Angel Gonzalez  (11) provided all of the offense for the Warriors.
“Any one of our five starters can be the go-to guy,” Crookes said. “We will ride whoever has the hot hand. I can’t say enough about this group of guys. There is no other team I would rather go to war with.”
Moses Brown finished 15-3 in the regular season, good for second place behind CF’s 17-1 mark. The Warriors scored a big early-season win at home over the Quakers by a 68-55 margin in early January, then proved they meant business with a 72-58 victory at Moses Brown’s court on Feb. 6.
After losing at Mount St. Charles to open the league schedule on Dec. 16, CF has won 18 straight games against Division III opponents. That would seem to make them prohibitive favorites to cop the state title today. Except Crookes knows that games are won on the court, not on paper.
“We know Moses Brown and they know us,” he said. “On defense, we need to force the tempo and keep them off the boards. They hit the glass very well.  North Smithfield did a good job against them in the semifinals by taking away their dribble-penetration.”
The Quakers barely survived their semifinal against the third-seeded Northmen, winning in overtime, 51-45.
“We’re focused and ready to play hard from the beginning of this game,” said Crookes, who remembers how the Quakers got off to an early lead in last year’s state title game.
“I think last year helped us,” the coach said. “We’re going to be ready to play from the start of Saturday’s game.”
Joe Handy has a more complicated problem facing his Warriors squad. Like Moses Brown, Hope is the defending state champion. The Blue Wave also scored a convincing 61-45 victory over CF in their first meeting back on Jan. 27, then lost in the final seconds at home to CF on Feb. 26 by a 47-45 margin when Valerie Biascochea made two free throws for CF.
“The first time we played them,” Handy said, “that loss was on me. I didn’t think we had the right tools to beat them that day. They hit 11 three-pointers. I made my girls a promise after the game that wouldn’t happen again. We gave them the tools to win in the second game. We got up on their outside shooters.”
Hope only made one three-pointer in the second game but got 20 points from Mikaela Garvin, who netted 23 points the first time around. Nayla Monteiro, who drained six treys for Hope in the first game, was held to three points total in the second contest.
“Garvin is their sophomore sensation,” Handy said. “She is going to get her points. If you sleep on their outside shooters, they can hurt you.”
CF presents a stable lineup led by the steady Biascochea, a four-year player.
“This is the third time Val has played in the finals,” Handy admitted. “Jennie Gonzalez and Hallie Webb have also been in the finals once. We’ve got a bunch of underclassmen who have come into the program and made us better.”
CF won the regular season title with a 13-1 record to 12-2 for Hope, which lost to an 11-3 Fatima team during the regular season and then avenged that defeat with a 31-23 win in the semifinals.
“Jitters will definitely be a factor for both teams,” Handy admitted. “What I tell the girls is The Ryan Center is just another basketball court. This is just another game. We need to play with the kind of urgency we have shown all season long. My girls are always diving for loose balls. I know the effort absolutely will be there on Sunday.”