Williams’ height, defense too much for Spartan girls

LYNN ? When the Archbishop Williams girls basketball team dropped the ball into the low post on the first possession of the game, the Bishops sent a message to St. Mary’s – We’re bigger, stronger and we’re coming right at you.Williams used its height advantage and muscle to upend the Spartans, 65-49, in a scintillating game, Friday night, at the Congliaro Gym. Alana Gilmer led the Bishops with 25 points, while Leah Spencer added 17. The Spartans were paced by Brianna Rudolph with 17 points, while Sharell Sanders added 11 and Jennie Mucciarone had 10.The Spartans (15-2) had a chance to clinch the Catholic Conference title, but were denied by the defending Div. 3 state champs, who improved to 9-7. Four of those losses were against out-of-state competition, however, and if Williams plays as well as it did last night, they are very much a contender to repeat.”It’s the best game we’ve played all season,” Archbishop Williams coach Jim Bancroft. “Between injuries and illnesses, we haven’t been able to put a game like this together until tonight.”Still, the Spartans had a chance to escape with a win after trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half. With 6:17 to play, Amanda Idusuyi trimmed the Bishops’ lead to four (50-46) with a put-back bucket, but Williams went on a 15-2 run the rest of the way.”I thought we had a chance to make it back all the way, but after we cut it to four, in our next four possessions we had three turnovers and a 3-pointer by Mucciarone that almost went in,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “Still, what cost us the game was we didn’t play defense well tonight. We’ve gotten 15 wins in our first 16 games by playing a certain in-your-face, on-the-ball defense, and we didn’t do that tonight. When you let the other team move the ball around uncontested for easy shots, you’re going to have problems.”Using a lot of low post offense and drives to the basket, Williams broke open an 11-11 tie with an 11-0 run that started late in the first period and lasted about a minute-and-a-half into the second. The Bishops continued to gradually build their lead, which peaked at 34-18, when Olivia Conrad made one of two free throws with 2:49 left in the first half.The Spartans closed out the second period with a 9-1 run, though, and trailed by just eight (35-27) at the break.Williams’ lead was still eight when the Bishops went on another run, of 8-1, with Victoria Dean’s 3-pointer off the glass from the right elbow making the score 48-34 with 37 seconds left in the third quarter. The Spartans parried the Bishops’ thrust with a 12-2 spurt of their own, with Sanders and Mucciarone contributing one 3-pointer each.”We had a chance to get a lot of things done tonight, including winning the league, but we didn’t get it done,” Newhall said. “Give (Williams) credit. Before the game, (Bancroft) told me they hadn’t played a good game all season, and that’s when I knew they were going to play well.”