LYNN – The St. Mary’s girls basketball team had to overcome a lot Wednesday night ? too much, as it turned out, to defeat Cardinal Spellman.The Spartans were down a player before the game even began – point guard Kirsten Ferrari (ankle injury) – and Cassi Amenta, who fell hard on her head in Monday’s game, was back ? but still feeling the effects.”She was in the hospital for a while, but she was cleared to play,” coach Jeff Newhall said. “I have to give her a lot of credit.”With a patchwork lineup, St. Mary’s scored only two points in the first quarter. Still, the Spartans turned it into a game ? coming up just short, 40-37.”We played hard,” Newhall said. “But – and it’s not an excuse – we had some different combinations in there, and people starting who aren’t used to starting ? and it was difficult.”While St. Mary’s was offensively stymied, Spellman wasn’t doing much better. The Cardinals only hit for nine points in the first period, with 6-3 center Alexis Udoji dominating throughout.”Tonight,” said Newhall, “she was the best player on the floor. We couldn’t do anything with her.”Udoji ended up with 22 of her team’s 40 points.On the other side, Bria Tiro had the hot hand for St. Mary’s, finishing with 16 of her team’s 37 points, including four three-pointers.After a paucity of baskets in the first quarter, things heated up in the second, especially for St. Mary’s. Tiro hit a three, and Erin Fahey and Tori Faieta followed with back-to-back hoops and all of a sudden an 11-2 Spellman edge turned into a two-point game. And from there, neither team was able to put any kind of a run together.Spellman did get the lead back up to seven (20-13), but Tiro hit a three late in the quarter and the Spartans trailed by four at the break.St. Mary’s finally took the lead for the first time all night (27-26) with 2:31 to go in the third quarter, but freshman Kelly Barrett got it right back for Spellman. Still, it was only a one-point game after three (28-27).For a brief spell, it looked as if Spellman might regain control as Udoji hit two free throws and a basket to open it up, giving the Cardinals a 32-27 lead. But neither team stayed on the mat too long in this one. Amenta was back with a hoop, and Faieta followed with two free throws, and then hit a nice layup with 1:56 left and St. Mary’s had another lead (33-32).Things seesawed back and forth from there. First it was Udoji for Spellman; then Ann Marie Idusuyi for the Spartans ? then Nicole McDonough for the Cardinals and then Tiro with two free throws for St. Mary’s. When the dust settled from that, St. Mary’s had a 37-36 lead with 40.7 seconds left.That turned out be the last points St. Mary’s scored. Molly Anderson sank two free throws for Spellman at 34.9 to give the Cardinals the lead for good, and then she and Udoji hit one apiece as time wound down to provide the final two points.St. Mary’s falls to 12-4 overall, and 6-3 in the Catholic Central League/Large.