Reserves star as foul-plagued Lady Spartans overcome Fenwick

PEABODY – With two-thirds of its backcourt and three starters in all sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter having fouled out, the St. Mary’s girls basketball team looked like it was going to see an enormous third quarter lead disappear against Bishop Fenwick on Friday.The Spartan bench players, though, took advantage of the chance to shine as Brianna Anderson, Erin Fahey and Ann Marie Idusuyi helped key a 13-2 run late in the fourth quarter that helped St. Mary’s to an 80-66 win over the Crusaders in a game that was much closer than the score indicated.”A game like this says so much about our depth,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “I have to give Brianna, Erin and Ann Marie credit. They came up and made some huge plays down the stretch for us.”The Crusaders (6-3) had seemingly wrested all the momentum away from St. Mary’s when Tori Faieta (21 points) – who was featured on Channel 5’s Mike Lynch’s High Five earlier this week – became the third starter to foul out for the Spartans with 5:22 to go and a 14-point lead having been trimmed to just four.Idusuyi helped steady the Spartans when she hit a layup. Fenwick’s cause was then dealt a crushing blow when Amy Pelletier fouled out with 3:39 left after torching the Spartans for 25 points.”When we lost (Amy), the wind kind of went our of our sails a little bit,” Fenwick coach Tim Harrington said. “We just couldn’t generate any offense after she left.”Kirsten Ferrari hit three free throws before Cassi Amenta, who led all players with 27 points for the night, hit a layup on a fast break to give St. Mary’s a 71-60 lead with 2:20 left.Following a pair of Crusader free throws, Idusuyi and Anderson converted steals into easy layups to close a 13-2 run in a little over three minutes to give the Spartans a 77-62 lead and a chance to finally exhale.”At times it wasn’t pretty,” Newhall said. “But we talked about coming out and playing as hard as we could on the way over here. And I think we did that ? I didn’t play a second and I’m gassed.”The finish proved to be as entertaining as the start was as both teams got out and ran from the opening tip.After St. Mary’s jumped to a quick 6-2 lead, the Crusaders put together a 13-4 run eventually carry a 19-16 lead into the second quarter. The Fenwick lead grew to 24-16 early in the second before the Spartans charged back.Faieta was immense during a 12-4 spurt in a little over three minutes that helped deadlock the game at 28-28 with 3:30 left in the half. Fenwick went back in front at 34-30 before the St. Mary’s defense came up big in the final 100 seconds of the half.Faieta, Amenta and Bria Tiro did most of the work on a 12-1 run that capped an entertaining opening half and sent St. Mary’s to the locker room with a 42-35 lead.”Getting a road win in this conference is so tough,” Newhall said.The Spartans eventually pushed the lead to 13 at 48-35 before Faieta drew her third foul, a portent of things to come.Pelletier canned back-to-back threes to bring the Fenwick crowd back alive before Faieta hit two layups to make it 52-41. But the junior forward was called for her fourth foul moments later and would spend the rest of the quarter on the sidelines.The lead was still 14 when Tiro was called for her fourth foul with 1:10 left in the third and her exit to the bench signaled a chance for Fenwick to rally. And the Crusaders did, embarking on a 14-3 run that cut the lead to 62-59 and set the stage for the crazy finish.