At the start of a new season coaches and players tend to set goals. One of the most basic is to do better than the previous year. The St. Mary’s High girls basketball team may have a tough time accomplishing that feat.
The Spartans won the Division 3 state title last year, their second in four years. They finished 24-2 last year — 45-5 over the past two seasons — and won the Catholic Central League/Large outright for the first time. They finished the season on a nine-game winning streak.
Coach Jeff Newhall will have to work his magic this year without three of his top players from last year. Brianna Rudolph, Jennie Mucciarone and Sharell Sanders all graduated. Rudolph is currently playing Division 1 basketball at UMass Lowell. Mucciarone is playing Division III at Tufts University, and Sharell Sanders is playing Division II basketball at Caldwell College in New Jersey.
?We lost three senior starters who combined for over 3,500 points,” Newhall said. “That’s a gigantic loss for us all the way around.”
Newhall said he doesn?t expect anyone to feel bad for his team. TheSpartans have a history of consistency, having won 20 or more games four of the last six seasons, and he expects this team to do fine.
?We haven’t been a flash in the pan and then we fall apart,” he said. “That?s a credit to the kids who play in the program.”
Newhall has nine former players who are currently playing in college.
?That’s as important a statistic as the wins and losses,” he said.
The challenge this year is to still be playing in March. But the Spartans will have to do so with a group of players who didn’t see much court time last year. Newhall only has two starters returning from the state championship team ? juniors Kayla Carter and Gianna Moschella.
Newhall said Carter is one of those players whose accomplishments don’t always show up in the box score. Carter, who is a CCL all-star, averaged nine points per game last year. She was often called upon to cover the opponent?s best player.
Moschella, a two-year starter, plays either forward or center. Newhall said she is tough in the paint and might be the key to the team’s defense. But, she’s also an offensive threat.
Sophia Holmes, the only senior on the team, was the first guard off the bench last year.
?She’s a hard-nosed kid. She hustles and she?s a good player defensively,” Newhall said, adding that she also has a knack for coming through in some critical spots.
Temi Falayi was the first forward off the bench last year. She played in 25 of 26 games and Newhall is expecting her role to expand this year.
Amanda Idusuyi, a sophomore, checks in a 6-feet-1. Like Falayi, Newhall expects Idusuyi to see a good deal of playing time. Returning sophomore guard Mia Nowicki, a threat from the outside, should also be in the mix.
Several players have made the leap from junior varsity and are hoping to work their way into the lineup including Katie Dixon, Daniela Napolitano, Sayo Falayi, Larisa Bogomolov and Elizabeth Weisse.
Newhall has two freshmen on the varsity, Marnelle Garraud and Olivia Nazaire. Both have played a good deal of AAU and travel basketball. Garraud came out of Sacred Heart Elementary School and Nazaire is from Peabody.
?I think both will see significant time,” Newhall said. “There will be some growing pains, but they’re two of the most skilled freshmen I’ve had.”
Newhall knows the Spartans are sporting a bull?s-eye but he’s ready to jump back into the fray.
?I think any time you start a season it’s exciting,” Newhall said. “I told the team that last year ended the Monday we started practice. I told them this is a new year and this team has a chance to create their own stamp.”
In addition to a tough CCL schedule, St. Mary’s has non-league games scheduled against Chelmsford, which went 17-3 last year, Tyngsboro, Bridgewater-Raynham, Amesbury, Mystic Valley and either Lynn Classical or Lynn Tech in the second game of theWalter Boverini Tourna
