Sports Update

EPHS Girls Indoor Track Meet Take Division Title
The team won their second consecutive Division Championship on Saturday, January 28th. The Townies won the Dwyer Division with a score of 96 points. Prout and Juanita Sanchez tied for 2nd with 56 points and Rogers was next with 55. "I knew and prepared for Prout to have a strong performance because they were the only team to beat us during the regular season. We finished 10-1. I was very disappointed because it came down to the last event the 4x400m relay and I didn't field our best team due to girls being maxed out in other events," said Head Coach Michael Almeida. "Although we lost to Prout during the regular season, I was very confident going into the division championship that we could win. We prepared all week for this meet and made a few changes with the relays," Coach Almeida added after the event.

With back to back division wins the Townies continue to improve and impress others as the team hopes to yet take home a state wide championship. At Saturday's meet the 4x800m relay team started off with a 2nd place finish. Daziyah Jackson-Nary placed 6th in the 3000m and beat her personal best time by 2 minutes. The 4x200m relay also placed 2nd with a Personal Record (PR) time and placed inside the top 15 teams to qualify for the state meet. Christy Long and Hasna Badji did a majority of the Townie scoring. Christy Long displayed a gritty performance by winning the 1500m, 600m, 4x400m relay, and took 2nd in the 1000m. Badji won the 300m with a new PR and placing her among the top times in the state. She placed 2nd in the 55m hurdles also with a PR and a top time in the state. Badji also finished 1st in the 4x400m relay and 2nd in the 4x200m relay.

"Ashley and Alyssa DeOlivieira both made the finals of the 55m dash with Alyssa placing 5th overall. Both PR and coming close to reaching the top 24 in the state. Briana Santos placed 5th in the 1000m with a PR. Kianna Hepburn placed 5th in the long jump also with a new PR. She jumped a foot and a half better than her best jump all season, which is unheard of," continued Almeida. "Shaniah Hazard helped us in a major way. She is our only two-sport athlete and had a basketball game at 12noon, the same time our meet started. She was able to make her races and place 4th in the 300m with a PR and 1st in the 4x400m relay with a PR and top 6 time in the state."

All relays placed either 1st or 2nd. The 4x800m relay consisting of Eva Caron, Elijah Perreira, Santos, and Mary Ellen Pinson placed 2nd. The 4x200m relay consisted of Badji, Ashley and Alyssa DeOliveira, Danira Cardosa-Sequira. "The 4x400m relay won the meet consisting of Hazard, Long, Pinson, and Badji. Haley Teodoro won the high jump again with a jump of 5 feet. She currently is the state leader with a jump of 5'2" and is the clear cut favorite to win the high jump at the state meet," said an excited coach Almeida. "Teodoro finished 2nd last year and is determined to win the event this year. Using this momentum going into the Class A meet and States we should score a good amount of points and be a factor. As long as these girls continue working hard, we will continue to get better and possibly bring home a State Championship in the next couple of years," said Almeida.

EPHS Girls Basketball
New girls basketball Head Coach Russ Ferri has his Townies racing along at 10-1 in late January. The Townies bopped Tolman 60-44 as January play ended with Courtney Dorr scoring a game high 29 points and Shaniah Hazard added 19. Hazard also grabbed 9 rebounds and had 8 assists with 3 steals. Lillian Conti scored 10 points. Dorr hit on six 3-point shots.

In a close game with Narragansett, EP prevailed by a 67-60 score. With the Townies behind by nine at halftime, Coach Ferri rallied his players to come out aggressive and take the lead. Courtney Dorr was high scorer with 26 points which included six key 3-pointers. Shaniah Hazard and Lillian Conti scored 17 and 16 points respectively.

EP easily defeated Pilgrim, 51-29 with Shaniah Hazard lead all scorers with 17 points. Lillian Conti and Hailey Hannon both hit for 11 points.

In other action last month, the Townies defeated Exeter/West Greenwich High School 61-40. Lillian Conti led all scorers with 23 points. Shaniah Hazard added 16 and Emma DaSilva had 12 while Courtney Dorr tossed in 8 points for the win. The Townies also scored wins over West Warwick, Chariho and Tolman.

To date the Townies Dorr is averaging 15.1 points a game (with 23, 3-pointers) while Hazard averages 13.2 and Conti 13.1 per game. Conti has tossed in 10 three pointers so far.

EPHS Boys Basketball
EP lost an overtime thriller, 67-59, to rival LaSalle in an end of January game at home. Aaron Gray broke the Townies back by scoring 7 points for the Rams in overtime. Gray had a game high tally of 29 points. With the game almost over the Townies Jaren Alves scored to tie the game and force overtime play. With the game tied at 52 LaSalle took control and scored 15 points to outlast the Townies. The game could be a key as the season winds down as both teams are scrambling for a playoff position.

In other action East Providence defeated a scrappy Smithfield High team 75-65 in a home game. East Providence trailed late in the game but continued to play tough comeback basketball. The Townies also had 5 players score in double figures. Deyshawn Tengbeh led all scorers with 20 points including a three-pointer and 7 free-throws. Other Townies with double digit scoring were Dion Hazard,15; Myels Nuey, 14; Juston Williams and Ben Sears with 10 each. Matt LaSalandra had 17 points for Smithfield in a losing cause.

In a nail biter, Central High downed the Townies 40-39 in an exciting home contest. With East Providence leading 39-38, Central's Pedro Munoz's shot with 8 seconds left, rolled around the basket and dropped in for the game winning shot. Dion Hazard had 16 points and Deyshawn Tengbeh scored 13 for the Townies.

The Townies also defeated a very good Hope High team in a 68-65 game. Deyshawn Tengbeh and Dion Hazard each scored 23 points in the Townie win. Hope’s Khalil Rios had a big night scoring 34 points for the Blue Wave. Rios also had 12 rebounds and 7 steals in a losing cause. Tengbeh had 3 three-pointers for the Townies. No other Townie hit the double digit mark but showed a good balance with everyone scoring. Ben Sears added 8 points.

In yet another close game, East Providence outlasted Woonsocket High 67-64 in an away game. Deyshawn Tengbeh scored all of his 15 points in the second half while Dion Hazard tossed in 16 points. The Townies benefitted from 11 three-point shots. Myels Nuey had 14 points including 4 three-pointers and Clinton Ogunronbi added 10 points. Jaren Alves had 7 points with a key three-pointer. Woonsocket's Denzel Lyles scored 21 points to lead the Villa Novans.

East Providence also defeated St. Raphael Academy 64-39 with eleven different players scoring for East Providence. The Townie attack was led by Deyshawn Tengbeh with 21 points including two 3-pointers.

St. Mary's Academy Bay View Basketball
Bay View had January wins over St. Raphael, Cranston East, Cranston West and Coventry. The Bengals lost to LaSalle, Smithfield, Moses Brown and Barrington.

Antonia Corsinetti scored 20 points in the win over St. Raphael. Madison D’Ambra added 13. In the game with Barrington, the game was tied with four minutes left. A late 3-point basket by Cassie Pare helped to gain the Bay View win. Madison D’Ambra finished with a game high 24 points. Olivia Middleton led Barrington with 13 points. Madison D’Ambra’s 17 points led the Bengals to their 51-28 win over Coventry.

St. Mary's Academy Bay View Swimming
Bay View defeated Moses Brown 53-40 in a swim meet last month. Winning key events to lead the Bengals to victory were Juliana Goncalves and Melina Cabral

A very competitive meet with Prout ended in a 47-47 tie. The Bengal's Gianna Spermullo, Juliana Goncalves and Olesya Tamburro had impressive individual wins as well as a key win in the 400 free relay. Bay View is 3-1-1 on the season.

EPHS/Lincoln Hockey
The combined East Providence/Lincoln hockey squad has a 5-5 record in Division Two North. The team has wins over East Greenwhich, Toll Gate, Ponagansett, Portsmouth and North Smithfield.

The Townies Colin Feeney scored their lone goal in the 1-0 win over North Smithfield. In the EP win over East Greenwich, 4 players scored a goal each in the final period for the win: Kevin Degnan, Colby Acciardo, Brenden Gannon and Colin Feeney. Jack Halloran has 10 goals and 7 assists for the EP/Lincoln team to date. Colby Acciardo has 6 goals and 5 assists and Colin Feeney has 3 goals and an assist.

Jonathan Stringfellow Named to RI Coaches Hall of Fame
Jonathan Stringfellow, a Dean of Students at East Providence High School, was inducted into the Rhode Island High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame last month. A member of the football famous Stringfellow family of East Providence, Stringfellow joins his father, William Stringfellow as a fellow member of the Coaches Hall of Fame. The younger Stringfellow was nominated to the Hall by another HOF member, former Townie Head Coach Sandy Gorham. "I am glad to nominate Jonathan and especially grateful that his parents Bill and Sheila were able to attend the ceremony," said Gorham.

Stringfellow, an All-State football player from East Providence High School (EPHS), has coached football at many levels. He began coaching at South Kingstown and then at EPHS. Eventually he accepted a Head Coaching position for the Hendricken High freshmen team. His Hendricken teams have compiled a 98-10 record.

"You have shaped the lives of so many great players out there, not only on the field but off as well. You’ve shown them how to win with poise and lose with grace," said Eric Stringfellow. "You’ve shown how to be a leader, how to be organized and how to be on time! Having been able to call you Dad as well as Coach has truly been an honor to me. Whether it’s coaching Football, Softball, etc. you are always pushing for your athletes to be the best they can be. Your encouragement and support is next to none," writes the younger Stringfellow in a tribute social post to his Dad.

Bill Stringfellow, Sr. was inducted into the Coaches Hall of Fame in 1979. After the ceremony some 40 members of the Stringfellow extended family "trooped" into Wright's Farm to celebrate.