LYNN — After trailing by six points entering the final quarter, the St. Mary’s girls basketball team rallied to put up a 30-point fourth and take down visiting Tewksbury, 62-51, at Conigliaro Gymnasium on Monday night. Coach Jeff Newhall said that the Spartans were lacking energy in the first three quarters, but they turned it on when it came to crunch time.
“Going into the fourth quarter, I was thinking that this was going to be a bad loss because we weren’t playing with any energy,” said Newhall. “But we hung in there long enough and got that run, and then in the fourth we really started playing how we want to play.”
Pamela Gonzalez had a big night in the win, putting up a double-double with 26 points and 15 rebounds, while also distributing five assists. Olivia Nazaire scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Gabby Torres had 12 points and four rebounds.
Tewksbury was led by Haley Mignon, who scored 20 points in the loss.
The game got off to a slow start for both teams, as good defense was played on each side. With the help of six points and two rebounds from Gonzalez in the quarter, the Spartans were able to pull away a bit late and take a 15-7 lead into the second.
But Tewksbury was able to flip the script in the second, locking down on defense and forcing St. Mary’s into a number of turnovers. Tewksbury also picked up the pace on offense, getting the Spartans into foul trouble and draining some free throws to bring the score to a 22-22 tie at halftime.
The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with four lead changes over the course of the quarter. St. Mary’s got back into foul trouble as well, but some missed free throws from Tewksbury mitigated the damage. But still, turnover issues continued to plague the Spartans and Tewksbury took a 38-32 lead into the fourth.
It was at that point that Gonzalez and Torres were able to take over for St. Mary’s. About halfway through the quarter, Gonzalez hit both the game-tying three and the go-ahead basket to give St. Mary’s a lead the Spartans would not relinquish. About a minute later, Torres single-handedly went on a 7-0 run with three baskets and a steal to push the lead to double digits and help seal the victory.
“That was the key sequence in the game,” Newhall said of Torres’ run. “That one really helped us put it away.”
Now at 10-4 on the year, St. Mary’s is closing in on a state tournament berth. But Newhall and the Spartans, which need two more wins to clinch a bid in states, are looking further beyond a tournament berth. St. Mary’s will aim for a string of late-season victories to secure a high seed and earn home court.
“We want to be playing well when that time hits,” Newhall said. “We’ve played some tough games against tough teams already this year, and we’ve got more ahead of us. We just want to be playing as well as we possibly can come tournament time. If we play like we did in the first three quarters tonight, anyone can beat us. If we play like we did in the fourth, we can play with anybody.”
The Spartans will play a road game against Cardinal Spellman on Friday night (6:30).
