Another Busy Stretch for Panther Teams

Tonight's girls' varsity basketball game between the Lady Panthers and the visiting Narragansett Mariners is the start of another packed schedule for local winter sports teams, all of whom earned playoff berths.

The boys' varsity basketball squad will be in action Saturday night in the state tournament, and the hockey team is awaiting word on its next matchup in the Division III championship series.

(On Feb. 26, all three teams were in action. The girls capped off their regular season with a win against Moses Brown; the boys' basketball squad fell to The Prout School in the Division III quarterfinals; and the hockey team skated to a tie against Tolman.)

After posting a 14-4 Division II North record (16-6 overall), the Lady Panthers finished second to Mount St. Charles and earned the right to face the D-II South seventh-seeded team. It will be the first meeting of the year for Johnston and Narragansett, which finished the year with a 10-8 divisional record, 10-11 overall.

The Round-of-16 game is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at Johnston High School. If successful, the Lady Panthers would secure a sixth divisional title for outgoing Coach Dan Mazzulla.

On Saturday night at 6 p.m. at the Providence Career Technical Academy, the boys' varsity basketball squad faces off against Bishop Hendricken High School.

The Panthers capped off a 17-1 divisional record (20-3 overall) with a first-round bye in the Division III tournament, only to fall to eventual D-III champion Prout in the quarterfinals on Feb. 25.

Even with the loss in the divisional round, the Panthers secured a spot on the state championship with their first-place regular season finish in Division III North. Hendricken, denied a chance at a ninth division title, finished third in Division I South with a 13-5 regular season tally, 14-7 overall and earned a berth in the state tournament.

The game will be the first meeting between the Panthers and the Hawks this season.

In hockey, the Johnston-North Providence co-op squad, the Cougars, will await the results of a best-of-3 series between Tolman and Cranston High School East, scheduled to begin Friday night at Cranston Veterans Memorial Ice Rink.

The Cougars posted a 2-0 record over the Thunderbolts of Cranston East during the regular season, winning 5-3 on Dec. 13 and 4-1 on Jan. 8. Against Tolman, the co-op squad went 1-0-1, with a 4-1 victory on Feb. 19 and a 1-1 tie on Feb. 26.

Last Saturday night, Feb. 27, the Cougars finished their regular season with a 8-0 drubbing of the co-op team representing West Warwick and Exeter-West Greenwich High Schools.

Watch JohnstonPatch for live coverage and reports from all of these games.