Krause: Great student-athlete tourney performances made winter memorable

Ordinarily, we celebrate the winter sports tournament season for many reasons — and one of them is that it takes our minds off the end-of-winter blues while we segue into something resembling spring.That wasn?t the case this year. Spring officially begins Thursday … and so far, any sign of it has been a dirty rumor. It?s as cold now as it was on Dec. 21. We can only hope that someday summer hangs around as long — and is as consistent, weather-wise — as this winter has been.However, that doesn?t mean there weren?t some pretty thrilling performances this year, especially with the English and St. Mary?s girls basketball programs doing what they did.Herewith are my Top 5 tournament stars (and if they seem heavily weighted toward basketball, it?s because, hockey-wise, the party ended fairly early).Beginning with No. 5, here we go:Bailey MacBurnie, St. Mary?s, goalie. Because we had so much basketball, and so little hockey, heading into the post-season, I only saw one tournament game on ice. And St. Mary?s lost, 2-0, to Reading. But it easily could have been 5-0 were it not for MacBurnie. It?s obvious, between MacBurnie and Tim Birarelli, the City of Beverly gets the prize this year for producing goalies.MacBurnie, who played elsewhere last year between stints for the Spartans, was easily the biggest reason St. Mary?s went from missing the tournament in 2013 to being on the cusp of making the Division 1A tournament this year (the Spartans had to “settle” for the top seed in Division 1).Eventual state champ Reading proved to be too big an obstacle, but that doesn?t negate what MacBurnie did during the season … and the game he had against the Rockets.Dennis Bailer, St. Mary?s, guard. Teammate Anthony Silfa, justifiably, was the headline-grabber this year for the Spartans. But it was Bailer who saved their bacon in the Division 4 North semifinal game against Hamilton-Wenham.With the Spartans trailing the Generals by five points late in the game, Bailer got hot, scoring six straight points to propel St. Mary?s into the lead and allow his team to storm back to the win.A night later, the Spartan girls were up in Hamilton for their game against Fenwick, and all the Generals? athletic director (Lynn?s Craig Genualdo, by the way) could do was rave about Bailer.(Speaking of Genualdo, his nickname at St. John?s Prep, where he graduated, was “the General.” So now, we have the General leading the Generals.)Jennie Mucciarone, St. Mary?s girls basketball, forward. We are going to look at her line at the Boston Garden and the DCU Center and see that — in two games — she scored five points.But she stands out for one thing above anything else. She didn?t let her offensive struggles get in the way of the other things she did out there. In the state championship game against Hoosac Valley, she put on a passing clinic.And while she didn?t score a point against Williams at the Garden, she pulled down nine rebounds and her screens allowed teammate Brianna Rudolph to explode for 31 points. In the grand tradition of John Havlicek/Larry Bird, she found other ways to beat you. That?s a sign of maturity any coach would covet.Catherine Stinson, English girls basketball, guard. All winter long, the subplot to the season was the discussion over who was better: Stinson or Brianna Rudolph of St. Mary?s. Night in and night out, it was a tough choice. We will make our determination in April when our winter all-stars come out, and I won?t tip my hand now. Suffice it to say, it?ll be an extremely difficult choice. But for the purposes of this column, everybody has to bow to Rudolph.But Stinson?s resume isn?t shabby at all. She willed the Bulldogs to victory in the Division 1 North final against Central Catholic, scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter to keep the Raiders from overtaking her team. She finished with 22 points (although it seemed like more).Holding any of the Bulldogs girls singularly accountable for what happened at the Garden against