LYNN — It looks as if the St. Mary’s girls basketball team is serious about winning its third straight Boverini Tournament championship.
The Spartans took no prisoners Wednesday afternoon in a matinee at the Classical gym, defeating English, 59-36, in a game that saw the Bulldogs go an entire half without scoring a basket.
St. Mary’s will have to go through Classical, winners over Swampscott, Friday evening (6) to win the tournament title.
“We came out very tentative,” said English coach Mackenzie Charles. “We really have to be able to play with more confidence.”
The Spartans, on the other hand, were able to empty their bench after taking a 35-8 halftime lead.
“I liked how we came out,” said St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall. “We had a slow start, but that’s got a lot to do with our opponents, Arlington Catholic and Archbishop Williams. However, that’s our league.
“But the last two games, we’ve gotten off to fast starts, and the more we get used to playing with each other, the better we’ll be.”
English sank only eight free throws in the first half, four of them by Ely Guity (who ended up with a team-high 20 points). Meanwhile, the Spartans, after some initial issues, began distributing the ball better and ended up leading after a quarter, 18-2. The Spartans scored the game’s first 14 points.
It got no easier for English in the second quarter, as St. Mary’s outscored the Bulldogs 17-6. That enabled Newhall to play the entire second half with a much longer bench.
“We play an up-tempo game,” Newhall said. “So to be able to go 9-10 deep, the way we did tonight, was nice. We don’t always get to do that.”
With more substitutes playing, English was able to stay more competitive with the Spartans in the second half, and actually outscored St. Mary’s 28-24. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs scored eight straight points before the Spartans broke the spell with a basket to end the game.
Guity finally broke through the Bulldogs with a basket early in the third quarter, and ended up scoring 16 of her 20 points in the final two quarters. Maylin Echevarria added seven points for English and Julianna Perry finished with six points.
“We have to be able to score more than that, though,” said Charles.
For the Spartans, Pam Gonzalez, who transferred in from Revere, led a balanced Spartan scoring attack with 14 points. Olivia Nazaire ended up with 10 points, and was the only other St. Mary’s player in double figures.
Eleven players saw action for St. Mary’s, and all of them scored at least one basket.
