By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

KINGSTON – Joe Handy made a simple pledge to his Central Falls girls. “If you play to the end, I’ll coach to the end,” promised the Warriors head coach, imparting his words with CF out of timeouts and trailing Hope by four points in the second overtime of Sunday’s Division III Championship.
Handy’s players wound up spilling everything they had and then some on the Ryan Center floor. Then again, the quest to capture a championship is never supposed to be a cakewalk. That’s what made the final result particularly gratifying for a determined bunch of Warriors.
Central Falls and Hope slugged through 32 minutes and two overtime periods, each side refusing to give ground. There was no unconditional surrender, just a down-to-the-wire finish that saw the Warriors earn the program’s first-ever girls’ hoops championship, 57-54.
“I expected a nail biter,” said Handy. “You can’t ask for anymore than that.” 
Powered in every sense by freshman Anna Rodriguez’s monster of a MVP effort (17 points, 16 rebounds), the Warriors vanquished a three-decade pursuit for glory while also unseating the defending champs, the Blue Wave. The title also snapped a personal drought for Handy, a link to CF’s boys’ basketball champion from 1987. Now in his ninth season piloting CF, Handy can at last say he’s tasted the fruits of labor as a player and now as a coach.
“Fantastic. It’s been about the kids, it’s always been about the kids. We won it as a team when I was a player, it felt good as an individual, but this is for the girls,” said a relieved Handy, taking a break from receiving congratulatory hugs. “The kids played hard all year and (today) was a good example.”
The Warriors, which wrapped up the season with a 10-game winning streak, were buoyed by four-year starter Valarie Biascochea (10 points) and senior Jenny Gonzalez (eight points) while youth was served in the forms of freshman Angelique Cooley (12 points) and junior Sakira Wilson (11 rebounds). Cooley didn’t sit down once during the 42 minutes required to decide a victor, the main reason being she had to shadow Hope’s Mikaela Garvin (game-best 20 points).
Like Biascochea, Gonzalez played a part when the Warriors dropped consecutive title contests in 2006 and 2007. Those days were completely erased from the memory banks all while Gonzalez was hoisted up in the air by several well-wishers.
“This year we finally took it,” said a jubilant Gonzalez. “Every person we have is such a great asset.”
The fact two extra periods were required speaks volumes on how evenly matched the Warriors and Blue Wave are. A two-point win by Central Falls (48-46) on Hope’s home floor in late February decided the regular season title. On Sunday, there were 11 occasions when the clubs were deadlocked on the scoreboard.
Fortunately for Handy, he held the ultimate trump card. When the 5-foot-8 Rodriguez reported off the bench, she formed a devastating frontline with Wilson and Biascochea. Handy’s decision to go big dramatically changed how the Blue Wave went about their business, transforming a unit that depends on the 3-point shot to one that lived and died by the heave.
Hope managed to drain six treys, but CF was able to avoid the sting for the most part by controlling the backboards, witnessed by the Warriors converting all but one of their 20 field goals down low. Central Falls’ length also resulted in 33 attempts at the free throw line compared to 15 for Hope. 
“Height is our advantage, shooting is (Hope’s). We wanted to take away their advantage and utilize ours,” said Handy.
“When Sakira, Valarie and myself are underneath, we’re hard to compete against,” said Rodriguez.
Hope’s Maiya Monteiro nailed a three to kick off the second overtime, but CF responded on a free throw from Cooley and a basket from Rodriguez. Two baskets from the Blue Wave shifted the pressure upon the Warriors, which calmly responded with a hoop from junior Halie Webb and a follow up by Rodriguez on a Gonzalez miss.
Cooley stepped to the line with 26 seconds remaining and the score tied ay 54. She made 1-of-2, giving CF a lead they would not relinquish. Hope’s ensuing possession ended with Garvin missing two free throws with 14.3 seconds remaining. Rodriguez and Webb each converted 1-of-2 free throws to lift CF’s slim edge to three.
Out of timeouts, Hope was forced to drive the length of the court with 4.8 seconds remaining. Not wanting to give the Blue Wave any sort of a clean look, the Warriors made sure to identify Hope’s two chief scoring threats in Monteiro (16 points) and Garvin. The Blue Wave struggled to reach midcourt, resulting in a desperate heave from Joyce Pons that bounced off the front of the rim.
After falling behind 8-1 early, CF stormed back to surge ahead, 17-10. Hope mustered a charge right before halftime, a 3-ball from Monteiro making it a one-point game (19-18) in favor of the Warriors.
CF fell behind 31-25 in the second half, prompting Handy to dig deep into his motivational bag of tricks. The Warriors responded in a major way, ripping off 11 straight points to move ahead by 36-31 with 7:08 remaining.
A three from Monteiro made the score 40-all with 4:20 to play in regulation, signaling this was far from becoming resolved. Rodriguez, her club down a point (45-44) with 48.3 ticks to go, banked home the first free throw, which wound up being the final point of the second half.
“She just plays big,” said Handy of Rodriguez.
“Anna blew me away, and she must have done the same thing to the crowd,” said Gonzalez.
The first extra session witnessed the teams trade two points. Hope moved ahead 47-45 on a running bank shot by Garvin, but Rodriguez forced yet another stalemate, drilling two clutch free throws with 20.4 seconds remaining. The Blue Wave and Warriors combined for three turnovers inside the final 10 seconds, the final chance ending with Cooley unable to get off a shot at the buzzer.
Asked what was racing through she mind as the game drifted into free basketball, Gonzalez said, “I felt chills, excitement, everything.”
In the end, there was pure ecstasy.
“I was very confident in my girls, I knew the effort would be there,” said Handy, kidding that he aged 10 years over the course of 2 ½ hours. “You don’t cut down the nets until it’s time. Now it’s time.”
***
HOPE (54): Maiya Monteiro 6 0-0 16, Mikaela Garvin 9 1-2 20, Valerie Arce 0 1-2 1, Joyce Pons 2 1-2 6, Seli DaGraca 0 0-6 0, Eniola Olumenese 2 0-0 4, Alexis Watkins 2 0-0 4, Janey McDaniel 0 0-0 0, Arianna Price 1 1-4 3. Totals: 20 4-15 54.
CENTRAL FALLS (57): Valarie Biascochea 4 2-3 10, Angelique Cooley 4 4-12 12, Halie Webb 1 3-4 5, Brianna Cooley 0 0-0 0, Jenny Gonzalez 3 1-4 8, Sakira Wilson 2 1-2 5, Anna Rodriguez 6 5-8 17. Totals: 20 16-33 57.
Halftime: CF 19-18.
End of Regulation: 45-45.
End of First Overtime: 47-47.
Three-point field goals: H 6 (Maiya Monteiro 4, Mikaela Garvin, Joyce Pons); CF (Jenny Gonzalez).
All-Tournament Team
Latiana German (Mount Pleasant), Seli DaGraca (Hope), Maiya Monteiro (Hope), Angelique Cooley (Central Falls), Valarie Biascochea (Central Falls).
Player of the Game
Mikaela Garvin (Hope)
Most Valuable Player
Anna Rodriguez (Central Falls)