ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Marnelle Garraud let a shot go from three-point range.
By KATIE MORRISON
LYNN — The St. Mary’s girls’ basketball team has been bitten by the injury bug, and hard. The Spartans lost senior Gianna Moschella to a knee injury early this season, and junior forward Temi Falayi broke her foot in late December.
Despite the growing list of injuries, the Spartans (8-1) keep finding ways to win, and beat Cardinal Spellman, 62-38, at the Tony Conigliaro gym Monday night.
St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall got every player off the bench and into the game. But after losing yet another player to injury –junior guard Mia Nowicki went down with an ankle injury in the first half — getting every player some minutes became more of a necessity than a luxury.
“(Playing everyone) is getting easy now, because we’re down to eight or nine (players),” said Newhall. “It’s getting old (the injuries), but the next person has to step up and now there’s no 10-deep anymore. Overall we hit enough shots from the outside to force them to do some things, and then we were able to get the ball in.
“I give credit to the kids that are in there,” Newhall said “I told them ‘injuries happen, but they don’t happen like this.’ But the next person has to be ready to go. We’re not going to use it as an excuse. It’s unfortunate, especially for the kids. It gives other kids a chance to show what they can do.”
The Spartans jumped out to a 13-8 lead after one quarter. Sophomore guard Marnelle Garraud got the scoring started with a layup — two of her four first-quarter points. Sophomore forward Olivia Nazaire contributed five points in the quarter.
The Spartans started to really get going in the second quarter. Garraud, who finished the game with six steals, intercepted a Spellman pass and took it to the hoop on a breakaway. She was fouled on her way up and sunk both free throws, giving the Spartans a 26-12 lead at the time.
St. Mary’s went on a small five-point run at the end of the quarter thanks to some excellent rebounding by Amanda Idusuyi and Kayla Carter. Nazaire capped the scoring in the half with a free throw, and the Spartans led by 10 at the break.
“I don’t know that we were totally with it in the first half, coming off our first loss of the year on Friday,” said Newhall. “We did enough to have a lead at the half, and we say at halftime all the time: you’re up by 10 at the half. Is the lead going to go to 20, or to four or five?”
The Spartans answered that question definitively in the third quarter, scoring 10 unanswered points to start the second half. Nazaire sunk a couple of free throws early in the quarter, and later Garraud recorded yet another steal and finished it off with a three-pointer. Four of her steals came in the third quarter. The Spartans held the Cardinals to only seven points in the quarter, and lept out to a 44-28 lead.
Garraud finished with a game-high 25 points, as well as five rebounds to accompany her six steals. Nazaire recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Carter chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Idusuyi grabbed eight rebounds.
The Spartans also got contributions in the fourth quarter from Daniela Napolitano (two points, three rebounds) and Katie Dixon (two points and a rebound).
