Does defense win championships? Moses Brown and Ponaganset girls are about to find out

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – If Saturday was any indication, defense will in fact win someone a championship on Sunday.

While there were plenty of impactful offensive players at the Ryan Center, Moses Brown and Ponaganset won their respective RIIL Credit Union Girls Basketball State Tournament semifinal games by putting on a show on the defense end.

Lauren Bousquet has been at the center of attention for the Quakers and while she certainly showed up in a big way, Moses Brown’s defensive effort stole the show. Jaelynn Perez and Vivian Stone kept North Kingstown’s top two scorers at bay all afternoon and with Bousquet handling pretty much everything on offense, the defending state champs earned a spot in Sunday’s final with a 35-26 win over the Skippers.

“It feels really good,” said Perez after the win. “Last year was a really good feeling. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get back to this point and we’re feeling really good.”

Ponaganset came out ready to burn the Ryan Center to the ground and after five 3-pointers in the first quarter, its defense did the rest. Up 17-2 after the first quarter, the Chieftains defense let the lead dip to single digits once before closing out Portsmouth, 44-31, to earn its spot in Sunday’s final.

“It’s a little bittersweet, but I’m super excited to be able to play in a championship game,” said Anna Nerney, the leader of Ponaganset’s defensive attack and the lone senior who played Saturday. “I got to be there my freshman year, so it’s nice to end my senior year with a championship game.”

Quakers' defense was key to success

How North Kingstown – fresh off its Division I title – was going to defend Bousquet was the storyline of the game, but story quickly eliminated when Bousquet showed no one was going to stop her.

But while Bousquet was piling on points – she finished with 19 – the Moses Brown defense was quietly controlling the game.

The Quakers’ game plan was simple – they weren’t going to let Brooke Faunce light them up for 37 points and nine 3-pointers again. They also weren’t going to let NK All-Stater Jaelyn Holmes take over the game the way she has all postseason long.

To slow the Skippers’ stars, Moses Brown sent lacrosse All-Stater Vivian Stone to shadow Faunce everywhere she went. When other NK players took shots, Stone never even looked at the basket – her eyes were locked in on Faunce.

Perez has been a secondary scorer for the Quakers, but her top concern Saturday was defending Holmes. The All-Stater beat Perez in the first quarter – scoring five points – but Perez continued to grind and prevented Holmes from getting in a groove the rest of the game.

“Last year I was always on the toughest guard, so it’s usually me, Vivian or Elise [Kurtis], so I was looking forward to it,” Perez said. “It’s take a lot of energy and on offense, it’s one of the reasons why I’m missing a lot of shots.

Vivian Stone, Moses Brown Girls Basketball

“It does take a lot of energy but my main goal was defense and I wasn’t worried about what I scored or anything like that and I knew Lauren would do that.”

Offensively, Moses Brown got a 3-pointer from Marielle Nassiff on the game’s first possession and Bousquet took over from there. North Kingstown threw everything it had at the junior – who was named Gatorade Player of the Year Thursday – but Bousquet wasn’t going to be denied.

Bousquet scored eight points in the first quarter to put the Quakers out ahead 13-8, then added seven more in the second to take a 20-12 lead in the locker room.

“I’ve been playing with Lauren since we were like 8-years old and we know each other really well,” Perez said. “I always know she’s going to have a good game.”

There wasn’t a ton of scoring in the second half, but there didn’t need to be. North Kingstown got the deficit down late in the game, but the Quakers made enough from the line to close the game out and earn a return trip to the state title game.

“We were just focused on defense,” Perez said. “That was our main thing and I think we executed it really well.”

Kaitlyn Simoneau, Ponaganset girls basketball

Ponaganset's balance attack won the day

Defense was at the top of Ponaganset’s game plan, but the offense showed up and got things going better than the Chieftains could have expected.

Ponaganset struggled to score in its quarterfinal win over La Salle, but immediately had things working in a positive direction when Marron Nerney hit a 3-pointer on the opening possession. It was a sign of things to come.

The Chieftains hit four more before the quarter was over – two from Kaitlyn Simoneau, one from Javiana Stec and another from Nerney – and led 17-2 after the first eight minutes.

“We kind of got a little sloppy in the past couple of games, but we got back to where we were in the beginning of the season with just rotating fast,” Nerney said. “A shot in rotation is wy easier than just a pick-up dribble and shoot.

“My confidence definitely goes way up when we hit a three. I’m clapping back and running back like ‘let’s work on the defensive end now.’”

Ponaganset did just that. Anna Nerney spent the afternoon hiding in Portsmouth star Gyselle Mairs’ front pocket. With Mairs – who dominated in the Patriots’ quarterfinal win over Barrington – struggling to spark the offense, Ponaganset maintained its double-digit lead for almost the entirety of the game.

“She’s an amazing player and I have a lot of respect for her,” Anna Nerney said. “…I knew what my job was today – keep her to a minimum and feed the ball to my teammates.”

Portsmouth outscored Ponaganset 8-4 in a foul-ridden second quarter and a Mairs layup cut the deficit to 21-12, but Stec hit a 3-pointer for the Chieftains to get it back to 24-12 and it never slipped below 10 the rest of the way.

Ponaganset’s young stars paced the offense, which scored all its points on 3-pointers – 10 – and free throws – 14. Marron Nerney finished Ponaganset with 16 points, Simoneau finished with 12 and Stec scored eight.

“They played amazing. They definitely stepped up,” Anna Nerney said. “… They’re not underclassmen anymore. They’re Ponaganset basketball players and coming here, we expect the best and they played the best.”

Saturday, Ponaganset dispelled the myth about the difficulty of beating a team three times in one season. Sunday, the Chieftains will try to prove it true against a Moses Brown team that beat them 71-51 and 47-41 during the regular season.

“A lot of people focus on Lauren, but we focus on playing defense as a team – not letting the ball get to her in the first place, shutting down their guards,” Anna Nerney said. “Marron will probably be on her and has to stay out of foul trouble but it all comes from the team itself – just working together and hitting shots like we did today.”

After winning the opener, Moses Brown didn’t have the luxury of knowing its opponent – but did know it had success against both.

Still, who they played wasn’t the concern heading to Sunday’s final.

“We’re not really worried about what team we play. They’re both really good teams and we’re just worried about winning the state championship again.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Results of the 2025 RIIL Girls Basketball State Tournament Semifinals March 15

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