School Roundup: St. Mary’s girls suffer first defeat of year

Chalk this one up to a very important lesson learned for the St. Mary’s girls basketball team on Monday in Braintree against Archbishop Williams.Facing the three-time defending Catholic Central League/Large champs, the Spartans were absolutely blitzed for the first two and a half quarters, trailing by as much as 19 before seeing a gallant comeback bid come up one point short in a 54-53 loss.”We got off the bus not ready to play against a team that’s won three league titles in a row,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “There is no excuse for how we played in the first half but we learned a lot (Monday) about our team.”The Spartans (9-1) were down only two, 12-10, after a quarter but suffered a complete offensive meltdown in the second period. St. Mary’s didn’t hit a basket, managing only four free throws as Williams went to the locker room up 29-14.Things didn’t improve at the start of the third quarter as Williams pushed the lead out to 35-16. St. Mary’s, however, steadied itself and cut it to 41-28 after three.The Spartans then got 12 of Tori Faieta’s team-high 18 points in the final eight minutes as they closed the gap to three twice in the final 90 seconds. But Williams’ Marianna Barry hit four free throws – her only points of the night – to get the Bishops over the hump.”We got knocked down and got back up and played our way back into the game,” Newhall said. “We also have to realize, though, that if we played like that all game, we would have been fine.”Lynnfield 57, Man-Essex 33At Manchester, the Pioneers (5-2) turned a close game at halftime into a romp with a 13-1 run in the third quarter as Kelsey Mancini had 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead Lynnfield. Jillian Fama added 13 for the victors.BOYS TRACKSwampscott 59, English 22At Swampscott, the Big Blue (4-1, 3-0 NEC Small) took eight event wins to get past the Bulldogs (2-3, 2-1 NEC Small).Click here for a photo gallery.Taking wins for Swampscott were Jermaine Kelly in the 55 hurdles (8.0); Olivier Narcisse, dash (6.3); Elijah Clark, 300 (40.2); Matt Nardiello, 600 (1:34.6); Shiloh Clark, 1,000 (2:50.3); Peter Hale, mile (4:54.3) and Jake Conaty, 2-mile (11:04.7).The Bulldogs’ wins came from Junior Santos in the high jump (5-5) and Gabe Robinson, shot put (37-11 1/4).Marblehead 65, Danvers 21At Danvers, the Magicians (3-2, 1-2 NEC North) won seven events and used their depth to take care of the Falcons (3-2, 2-1).Billy Graves won the high jump (5-9); Jake Smith, 55 hurdles (8.2); Connor Cataldo, 55 dash (6.9); Tyree Williams, 300 (41.4); Will Herlihy, 600 (1:33.3); Noah Bittermann, 1,000 (2:54.0) and Henry Pratt, mile (4:53.7).Salem 69, Winthrop 11At Swampscott, the Witches (2-3) got wins from Fernando Cabrera in the shot put (38-10 1/2); Kyle Florence, 55 hurdles (9.6); Christian Guzman, 55 dash (6.4); Adrian Beato, 600 (1:34.6); Daniel Collins, 1,000 (2:57.3); Kinnon Church, mile (5:04.6) and Joe Nguyen, 2-mile (12:28.0).GIRLS TRACKSwampscott 71, English 15At Swampscott, the Big Blue (3-2, 3-0 NEC South) had a double winner in Melinda Wilson, who took the shot put (27-3/4) and 300 (45.6). Also taking wins for the Big Blue were Emma Walsh, high jump (4-10); Vy Le, 55 hurdles (9.7); Hannah King, 600 (1:50.2); Alison Carr, 1,000 (3:26.4); Michaela Jancsy, mile (6:05.1) and Tess Gorman, 2-mile (12:30.4).Shakira Llewellyn won the 55 dash (7.5) for English (2-3, 2-1 NEC South).Marblehead 55, Danvers 31At Danvers, the Magicians (4-1, 2-1 NEC North) used their depth to get over the hump against the Falcons (3-2, 1-2). Taking wins for Marblehead were Lily Cummings in the high jump (4-8); Emma McGuirk, 300 (47.0); Maura Tubridy, 600 (1:45.6); Gretchen Rowe, 1,000 (3:18.4); Maddie Piela, mile (5:54.9) and Alex Gerard, 2-mile (13:05.4).