The Cranston West girls’ basketball team won its second consecutive game on Thursday evening, beating the Chariho Chargers, 41-31, on its home floor.

Lauren Plociak, Savannah Bissitt and Mia James contributed eight points each for the Falcons. Sophomore Caitlin O’Leary led Chariho with 10 points.

The win moved West to 2-9 in league play.

“This is a learning process this year,” West head coach Russ Ferri said. “We’re very young. We have two seniors that are really guiding the younger players. It’s going to take some time, but they’re starting to gel.”

West won the opening tip and got hot right out of the gate. Abby Souza, the senior point guard, got it inside to James for a layup and a 2-0 edge. After a Chariho turnover, Falcons’ freshman Julia Improta sent an inbounds pass to Katie Blake for a layup, putting West up 4-0. Bissitt, the West senior, made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe and Improta hit a floater, helping West out to an early 7-0 advantage.

Then, Chariho went on a run of its own. O’Leary started by draining back-to-back jump shots. Then, senior point guard Jessica Rego tied it at 7 with a corner 3.  

West went up 10-7 when Bissitt buried a 3 ball. On the next play, Bissitt missed a 3-pointer, but James was there for the putback. A jumper from O’Leary pulled Chariho within 12-9 with 7:16 remaining in the opening half.

Bissitt banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to increase the Falcons’ lead to 15-9 with 4:26 left. Shortly after, Improta passed to Blake, who sank a jumper.

A basket from Chariho senior forward Sydney Allen cut it to 17-12, before Plociak scored two buckets to send the Falcons into the break with a 21-12 lead.

West came out strong to start the second half as Improta drained a 3-pointer. Then, Blake passed down to James, who made a layup. West held a 27-12 lead after Bissitt made a free throw with 12:49 left.

O’Leary buried a jumper for Chariho to cut the deficit to 13. Then, Chariho freshman guard Kate Powers earned three points the old-fashioned way. Next, stingy defense by Chariho saw the shot clock expire on West. Chariho cut the deficit to seven when O’Leary fed Powers for a layup.

West stopped the bleeding when freshman forward Megan Anderson passed inside to Plociak for a layup. Moments later, Souza scored a basket to put the Falcons up 32-20.

With 7:20 to play, Chariho’s Alexandria Williams cleaned up an O’Leary miss to pull her squad within nine, but that’s as close as the Chargers would get.

Souza dished to Plociak, who scored a basket to put West up 36-25. Then, Blake grabbed an offensive board and laid it up to give the Falcons a 38-25 lead with 3:45 left.

West cruised the rest of the way to a 41-31 victory.

Though Ferri was thrilled with his team’s second win in as many games, he still feels his team has a lot of maturing to do.

“When good things happen for them, they’re still not yet ready to grasp it and take it to the next level,” Ferri said. “So, we have to keep on doing the things in practice that we’re doing and work hard every game.”

Ferri says his team gets better with each game.

“Tonight it looked like they were able to work really well when Chariho went into the zone and we had a lot of open shots all night long,” Ferri said. “So, all-and-all, we’re improving. They’re where I thought they would be at this point.”