Spellman edges St. Mary’s girls

LYNN – There was a bit of desperation in the air on Friday at the Conigliaro Gymnasium as two teams battling for their tournament lives went right to the final buzzer.After leading for most of the game, St. Mary?s saw Spellman rally in the final minutes as Alex Pantano?s three pointer with 20 seconds left was the difference in a 49-47 Cardinal win.The Spartans now must win two of their final five games to earn a chance to defend their Division 3 state title.?Our effort was excellent,” St. Mary?s coach Jeff Newhall said. “We knew it would probably come down to a last shot and if someone made it or missed it. They had a good play and executed it.”For 31 minutes, the Spartans were comfortably ahead but it was the final minute of each half that proved to be their undoing.St. Mary?s had a comfortable 31-19 lead as time wound down in the first haldf when Taylor Pitts put up back to back baskets, the second coming in the final five seconds to trim the lead to eight.?That little surge there at the end of the half hurt us,” Newhall said. “We had played really well until then.”The Cardinals rode that momentum as Pantano, Molly Anderson and Emily DeBarros each hit a 3-pointer at the start of the third quarter to give Spellman a 32-31 lead and forced Spartans to burn two timeouts in the process.?They did a good job of adjusting to our zone at the start of the second half,” Newhall said.The teams would then go back and forth as the third quarter progressed with the biggest lead being two on four occasions for the Spartans, finishing with St. Mary?s up 40-38 after three.The defensive struggle continued as the fourth quarter opened with the teams trading free throws before Anderson tied the game at 41 with 5:56 left. Ann Marie Idusuyi then scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Spartans a three point edge.On the next three possessions, however, St. Mary?s failed to score and it proved to be a big turning point.?We?re up three down the stretch and we had chances to extend the lead. If we can make one of those shots, it?s a different game,” Newhall said.Anderson made the Spartans pay for the misses when she knocked down a three from the top of the key to tie the game with 2:20 left.Sharell Sanders gave St. Mary?s the lead right back with a nifty drive to the rack. It proved to be the last points the Spartas would get on this night.Taylor Pitts hit one of two free throws with 1:45 left to cut the lead to one. Then after a jump ball and a timeout, Anderson knifed into the lane and kicked the ball to Pantano deep in the left corner for the go-ahead three.The Spartans would get two chances to tie in the final seconds but both shots came up short.?We had a couple of lapses and they took advantage of them,” Newhall said. “We still need to win two games to make the tournament and we can?t allow this to seep into our game Tuesday.”