Faieta, Spartans fend off Weston in tourney opener

LYNN – It was a tale of two halves in St. Mary’s 48-41 win over Weston Thursday in Division 3 North quarterfinal action at Tony Conigliaro Gym.The Spartans owned the first two quarters and spent the last two beating back a Weston team that apparently had an “aha” moment in the locker room at halftime as it sought a solution to its woes – its biggest problem at that point being an unstoppable Tori Faieta.Faieta put on a show in the paint for 16 minutes, scoring 14 of her team-high 20 points before the break. In the process, she became the school’s all-time leading scorer (girls) with 1,084 points. She needed seven coming into the game to pass Robyn Mazin (1,071 points) on the list. Mazin played for the Spartans in the early to mid-1990s.Click here for a photo gallery.Weston (14-7) had some impressive credentials. The Wildcats play in the perennially tough Dual County League, where they finished first in the small division. They lost five in a row at one point early in the season and then went on an 11-game winning streak.Coach Linda Martindale came in with a healthy respect for what Faieta and her teammates could do offensively, but she was somewhat surprised by the defensive intensity.”This is a very strong team with great defense,” Martindale said. “I did not expect the defense ? They were relentless. Their defense was superb.”It was all St. Mary’s in the first quarter. Faieta found her spot in the paint and went to town, scoring 10 of her team’s first 14 points. St. Mary’s led 14-4 after one quarter. When Weston focused on trying to contain Faieta, junior guard Kirsten Ferrari answered the call. Ferrari (12 points) buried two threes and hit a foul shot to help her team extend its lead to 27-13 at the half. Bria Tiro, who can torch a team on any given night, finished with 10 points.St. Mary’s nation held its breath in the third quarter when Faieta landed hard on a rebound and had to leave the game with a knee injury. Although the junior center returned about two minutes later, Weston grabbed a little momentum and managed to trim the deficit a hair (36-24 after three).Weston really started to rattle the Spartans’ cage in the fourth quarter after St. Mary’s built up a hefty 44-26 lead with 4:26 left. Weston, which was led by junior Allison Pemberton (16 points), went on a 7-0 run that was sparked by a Brooke Brennan three and two quick buckets by Saliah Serette. Emily Gosman and Pemberton both had big threes in the final minute or so to make things interesting, but the Wildcats ran out of time. Weston outscored St. Mary’s 28-21 in the final 16 minutes.”I thought we played hard on defense (in the first half), but I thought we lost our edge (in the second),” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said.Although he saw some things that need work, Newhall was happy to be moving on to face the winner of tonight’s Swampscott vs. Pentucket game (being played at Amesbury High).”At this point in the season you win and move on, or you collect the uniforms the next day. We’re still playing,” Newhall said.Faieta also had 17 rebounds and six blocks, Newhall said.