St. Mary’s girls hoop is young, yet experienced

St. Mary’s girls basketball coach Jeff Newhall is expecting his team to suffer some growing pains over the course of the season, but he’s also optimistic the experience some of his younger players gained last year will translate into a trip to the postseason this year.The Spartans failed to qualify for the Division 3 North state tournament last year with a 9-13 record, but having three starters back, along with seven girls who saw considerable varsity time last year, has Newhall upbeat.”Even though we’re young, we have some great experience,” he said. “We’re playing 22 games. If we can’t win 11, something went drastically wrong.”The Spartans play in the Catholic Central League, a league Newhall believes is one of the top two or three in the state. They face strong opposition on a regular basis, beginning with Monday’s opener against Archbishop Williams, which won the Division 3 state title the last three years. Throw in Cardinal Spellman, which has been in the top five in the state in the division the last two years, and Bishop Fenwick, a rival and always-tough opponent, and it’s clear that making it to game 23 will be a challenge.Newhall graduated two seniors from last year’s team, Jackie Kapnis and Jenna Blydell. He has three returning starters in senior guards Amy Bozarjian and Alison McCarthy (both captains) and sophomore center Tori Faieta.Faieta has been key in the St. Mary’s game plan since she started playing varsity as an eighth-grader. Although she’s only in the 10th grade, she provides a veteran presence to the starting lineup.”At times you forget she’s only going into the 10th grade because she played in the eighth and ninth,” Newhall said. “I think she’s improved drastically since last season. I anticipate she’s going to have strong games each and every time out ? She’s about as polished as anyone I’ve coached going into sophomore year.”Bozarjian and McCarthy were new to varsity basketball last year, and there was a learning curve, but Newhall is expecting a nice payoff this year.”We were going up against the best teams, some of the toughest pressure you can find. They learned quite a bit to make them better for this year,” he said.Senior forward and captain Nicole Hanlon provided strong support off the bench in 2007-08 and should play an even bigger role this season, Newhall said.”She’s a good two-way player. She a physical player and a very good rebounder,” he said.The Spartans have another weapon in sophomore Cassi Amenta, who came on strong the second half of the season last year, averaging about 8.4 points and seven rebounds over the last 10 games.”I think with Hanlon, Amenta and Tori, we have a very good three-man rotation at the post,” Newhall said.Rounding out the returning contingent are sophomore forwards Rachel Faieta and Erin Fahey, sophomore guards Kirsten Ferrari and Molly Carey, and junior Kristina Burri.There will be a new, yet somewhat familiar, face on the court this year. Bria Tiro of Saugus, who started for Bishop Fenwick last year, transferred to St. Mary’s and should provide the Spartans with a big lift in the backcourt.”She’ll help us a lot in areas where we struggle,” Newhall said. “I’m anticipating she’ll be a very good player. She’s familiar with the league and knows what she’s getting into.”Newhall is carrying 11 players on varsity, and six of them are sophomores. The group tuned up for the season over the weekend with scrimmages against Nauset, Chatham, Groton-Dunstable, Gloucester and Sandwich.