St. Mary’s defeats Swampscott in Spartan Classic opener

LYNN – The St. Mary’s girls basketball team couldn’t have been blamed if there was a little emotional hangover after clinching the Catholic Central League title on Friday when it took the floor Sunday against Swampscott in the Spartan Classic semifinals.Fortunately for the Spartans, they brought their top defensive game.St. Mary’s held Swampscott to just three field goals for the game as the Spartans advanced to tonight’s Division 3 title game against Lee with a 45-16 win over the Big Blue.”The way that we played defense was great,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “We came out with real good defensive intensity.”It was a fortunate break for St. Mary’s (17-4) that its defense was on the ball Sunday because the Spartan offense was certainly not clicking on all cylinders. The Spartans managed only 17 points in the first half yet still carried a 13 point lead into the break by not allowing the Big Blue a single field goal.”We are going to have to be a lot crisper (tonight) against the defending state champions,” Newhall said. “Our ball movement wasn’t that good at times and then we missed shots when we moved the ball well.”St. Mary’s led the entire way and saw the game only tied once at 2-2 in the first quarter. But it was far from easy as the Big Blue defense made the Spartans work for everything they got.The Spartans led 7-2 after one quarter and then held Swampscott to only two Caroline Murphy free throws in the second quarter to extend the lead to 17-4 at the half.Two quick baskets from Tori Faieta to start the second half extended the lead to 17 and the Spartans were on cruise control from there. Marina Padovani broke the field goal drought for Swampscott after over 17 minutes before St. Mary’s put the pedal down offensively and extended the lead to 30-10 after three on an Erin Fahey jumper at the buzzer.The lead eventually ballooned to as much as 30 in the final quarter as the Spartan bench played out the final minutes and set up a date with the defending Division 3 state champs tonight.”Lee is a good team and we will be ready for them,” Newhall said. “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to meet them for a second time in the state tournament either.”