St. Mary’s girls advance; Rudolph hurt

LYNN – Top- seeded St. Mary’s got off to a quick start in their 80 -41 victory over eighth- seeded Charlestown in the MIAA Division 3 North Quarterfinals at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium Friday night.Jennie Mucciarone led the Lady Spartans (20 2) with 19 points. Sharell Sanders added 14 points.Mia Nowicki came off the bench to score 11 points.”We haven’t played for almost two weeks so we were looking to get off to a fast start,” said St.Mary’s head coach Jeff Newhall. “We put them away in the first three or four minutes.”The only negative for St. Mary’s was the fact that Brianna Rudolph had to be helped off the court. Rudolph appeared to twist her ankle while playing defense about halfway through the second quarter. The senior did not come back on the court. Rudolph poured in nine points with four rebounds before she left the game.”It’s an ankle injury and we hope it’s nothing too serious,” said Newhall. “We need her to make a run here.”Rudolph began the contest by scooping a loose ball off the opening tip and drove for an uncontested layup to give St. Mary’s an early 2 0 lead. Charlestown had to burn a timeout after they had trouble inbounding the ball.Mucciarone and Sanders continued to set the tone for the Spartans. St. Mary’s scored the first 21 points before Charlestown’s Kayla O’Brien hit a baseline floater with 1:40 left in the first quarter.After the first quarter, St. Mary’s was ahead, 28 -3. Mucciarone and Sanders combined for 19 points.St. Mary’s press defense caused problems for Charlestown as the Lady Townies had trouble getting the ball past St. Mary’s pesky guards in the backcourt. Sanders had three steals that ended in three layups. The Spartans’ defense forced 11 turnovers in the first eight minutes.In the second quarter, Rudolph got involved with a couple of baskets and a free throw. The Spartans would not allow Charlestown to gain much momentum even though St. Mary’s committed a few turnovers. St. Mary’s increased the margin to 42 -13 at halftime.Mucciarone sparked an 11- 2 run to begin the second half with two corner three pointers off inbound passes. St. Mary’s was able to get some extra rest for their next game.O’Brien had 31 points for Charlestown with an impressive display of long range shooting late in the game.”She played very well,” said Charlestown head coach Alexandra Ventura. “She did not give up and she did not get down on herself.”St. Mary’s will play the winner of Saturday’s game between Lynnfield – Bishop Fenwick in the Semifinals.”Both teams are good,” said Newhall. “Whoever it is we will be up for the challenge.”