St. Mary’s stymied by Pentucket

METHUEN – If you had told St. Mary’s girls basketball coach Jeff Newhall before the game that his team would hold Pentucket to only 38 points in the Division 3 North semifinals, he probably would have been booking the bus for a trip to Emmanuel College on Saturday.The Spartans did a great job defensively on the Sachems, but offensively it was another story and the end result was a 38-27 loss at Methuen High.St. Mary’s only scored 10 points in the second half and that sort of production doesn’t cut it against a team that features 6-3 center Kirsten Daamen, who’ll be playing Division 1 college ball at Central Connecticut next year.”I’ve got to give Pentucket a ton of credit,” Newhall said. “We’ve scored a lot of points all year long. They forced us into some decision-making on offense that wasn’t the best ? I’ve got to give them credit for the pressure they put on us defensively.”Although the Sachems will face Swampscott Saturday in the D3 North final at Emmanuel, coach John McNamara could probably stand to see his team do a little better offensively.”We didn’t shoot real well, but we scored 11 more points than them,” he said, adding he expected his defense to be right there.”Offensively we struggled a bit,” he said.Pentucket (21-2) played Swampscott during the regular season and lost by three when it missed a three at the buzzer. The score of that game was 46-43.”When you get to the state tournament, a lot of these games become that way,” McNamara said. “The pressure mounts, every possession is critical and the baskets get a little smaller.”After scoring the opening basket of the game, St. Mary’s went into a bit of a funk and either missed shots or turned the ball over the next five or six trips down the court. Bira Tiro finally put an end to a 7-0 run by Pentucket with a hook shot in the paint with 2:50 remaining in the quarter. Pentucket’s Erin McNamara (11 points) answered with a three (there were only two threes the whole game), but the Spartans hit two shots in the final 35 seconds to cut the deficit to 10-8 at the end of the quarter.St. Mary’s regained the lead at 12-10 on a Tiro hoop early in the second quarter, but that was the Spartans’ last lead of the game. Pentucket led 22-17 at the half due in part to Daamen’s six points. She finished with 14 points to lead all scorers in addition to hauling down 26 rebounds.The third quarter was forgettable for both teams, with Pentucket outscoring the Spartans 8-6. Ditto for the fourth quarter. St. Mary’s could only muster four points (two of them on free throws). Pentucket didn’t do much better with eight.Sophomore Cassi Amenta led the Spartans with 10 points, six of them coming in the second quarter. Sophomore forward Tori Faieta had to battle with Daamen in the paint all game and it was a struggle. Faieta finished with five points.Despite the outcome, Newhall was thrilled with the season overall.”Overall, it was a tremendous season,” he said, pointing out that the Spartans won 18 games, went over .500 in the Catholic Central League, defeated Cardinal Spellman twice (another first), beat two-time defending state champion Archbishop Williams, won the Spartan Classic, and, for the first time in years, won more than one game in the tournament.”Tonight might have been frustrating, but the last three months and a week have probably been the best three months and a week the St. Mary’s basketball team has had in a long time,” Newhall said.