By ALEX SPONSELLER The Cranston West girls basketball team has jumped out to a 1-1 start this winter season, beating Portsmouth on opening night then falling to Barrington in overtime on Monday evening.

The Falcons won the opener 54-35. Kaitlyn Antonucci led the Falcons with 14 points scored and 10 rebounds, while Maylina Cotto-Santiago added 11 points and five steals. Kiley Abendroth chipped in eight points while Catherine Albizu scored seven.

Barrington would edge West 50-48 in overtime the following game.

Maia Riccio led West with 13 points while Albizu scored 10.

West features an experienced roster which included six seniors and four juniors. New coach Nerson Santiago has been pleased with the team’s start.

“We have great leaders and their sportsmanship is impeccable. This is a great group of kids that works hard and plays for one another. They love to play and their attitudes are great,” said Coach Santiago, who has been relying on his veterans in the early going. “This is my first year, so I have been leaning on the seniors quite a bit to be good role models for the younger kids and establish a culture.”

Despite the overtime loss on Monday, the team is still confident and aims to make a deep playoff run.

“We know we’re in the early stages of the season, so we would rather lose now than later on. That was how we felt tonight getting this loss out of the way,” said Coach Santiago. “We’ll learn from it, we’ll improve from it. We’re going to get better. It’s DI, so it’s not going to get easier. We just need to work hard every day to get better and I think by the end of the season, we’ll be competing for a championship.”

The Falcons took on Ponaganset on Wednesday evening, but the results were not available at press time.