Fenwick girls hoop drills St. Mary’s

LYNN ? You’re not going to lose too many games when just one of your players out-scores the other team in the first half.Bishop Fenwick’s Bridget Dullea lit up the St. Mary’s girls basketball team for 16 points while the Spartans scored just 13 in the opening two periods and the Crusaders rolled to a 61-44 win, Friday night, at Conigliaro Gym.Fenwick (6-2) led, 35-13, at halftime, and by as many as 31 points early in the second half. The Spartans (5-4) fought back to close the gap to 15 late in the game, but the Crusaders were cruising by that point.”I’m very pleased with the way we played defense in the first half,” Fenwick coach Tim Harrington said. “We’ve been preaching defense since the first day of practice and we got a solid effort against a very good team.”Dullea shredded St. Mary’s zone for five 3-pointers in the first half, but she didn’t score in the second half after the Spartans switched to a man-to-man.Amy Pelletier led the Crusaders with 17 points, while Lizzy Trainor added 11. Tori Faieta was the only player in double figures for St. Mary’s with 14 points, though Cassi Amenta added nine.”First of all, Bishop Fenwick is an excellent team. They’re going to challenge Arlington Catholic for the (Catholic Central) League title and they’re going to be a tough team to beat in Division 2 North,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “They present matchup problems because they play four guards in their offense. If you play them man-to-man, you’re going to have a forward on one of their guards, and if you play a zone they’re going to shoot over the top of it.”Fenwick never trailed, and broke open a 5-5 tie with 13 straight points to close out the first quarter. Faieta ended a 6:09 St. Mary’s scoring drought, but in the second quarter Dullea nailed four of her 3-pointers, the last with 22 seconds left to peak the Crusaders’ lead at 24 points.”It helped a lot that Bridget Dullea was on fire in the first half,” Harrington said.Though the Spartans turned in what Newhall admitted was the team’s poorest half of the season, St. Mary’s did have more than a few decent looks at the basket that rimmed out.”At halftime, I told them to forget about the score and go out and play hard in the second half,” Newhall said. “We went out and dove on the floor and played good defense and kept battling. We weren’t going to come back from 23 points, but that second half may have set the tone for the rest of the year.”Fenwick scored the first nine points of the second half to take its biggest lead, but the Spartans closed out the third quarter with a 14-4 run and got the lead under 20 when Faieta swished a foul line jumper 14 seconds into the fourth quarter.Faieta scored five straight points and Amenta added another bucket to make the score 59-44, but with only 1:39 left in the game.