LYNN — The St. Mary’s girls basketball team has won five consecutive Walter J. Boverini Tournament championships and seven of the last nine. But that doesn’t mean the Spartans take the Boverini Tournament lightly.
“Anytime you talk about a Lynn City Tournament with the name Boverini, it means more than any other regular season tournament we can possibly play in,” Spartans coach Jeff Newhall said.
St. Mary’s enters the Boverini ahead of the curve. The Spartans, 5-1, have already played six games this season and carry a five-game winning streak after dropping their opener to Archbishop Williams (54-46). They won the Hoosac Valley Christmas this past weekend with victories over South Hadley (74-35) and defending Division 3 state champion Hoosac (62-32).
“We didn’t play well in our opening game,” Newhall said. “It was eye opening in a number of avenues. Since that first game, we’ve started playing well. The win over Hoosac was probably the most energetic we’ve been. We just need to sustain that through the rest of the season and continue taking steps forward as we go along with the season.”
A busy start to the season has kept the Spartans active through the early going. Newhall applauded his experienced returners for welcoming that challenge and, more importantly, being ready for it.
“We knew it that it was going to be busy and we’d match up against good competition,” Newhall said. “I did that on purpose. We’re playing a 23-game schedule, but we have a veteran team. We return 11 or 12 varsity players. We got into it fairly quickly. I do think it’s a little bit of an advantage to be playing as many games as we have.”
Junior newcomer Maiya Bergdorf, a forward, leads the Spartans in scoring at 15.5 points per game. Then the balanced Spartans turn to five other players who average eight or more points per contest — Nicolette D’Itria, Gabby Torres, Jannise Avelino, Yirsy Queliz and Hoosac Valley Tournament MVP Olivia Matela.
“We’ve done a good job spreading the ball around,” Newhall said. “(Last Friday, win over South Hadley) we had 12 different players score and (last Saturday, win over Hoocac) we had nine different players score, five of whom were in double figures. That’s what makes us so difficult to defend. We have a number of kids that can put the ball in the basket.”
St. Mary’s, this year’s tournament host, isn’t looking past the Boverini. English and Classical both qualified for the Division 1 and 2 North state tournaments, respectively, last year and both teams are unbeaten at 2-0. Lynn Tech, 1-2, is also in the picture.
“There’s always a little added benefit to playing at home, in your own gym,” Newhall said. “I think it adds a little pressure but you always anticipate that you’re going to play better. The other schools are treating this like a big tournament and they want to knock us off. Whether it’s in our gym or their gyms, we know we have to anticipate that we’re going to get their best shot.”
The Spartans host Classical in the opening round Friday (5:30).
“Classical hasn’t lost yet,” Newhall said. “Classical teams are always very good defensively. They always play hard. Sometimes it’s difficult in this tournament. You have to take the name off the jersey in the tournament and play the way we’re accustomed to playing. We have to play the way we’re capable of playing. We have to dictate the pace of the game. If we allow them to dictate the pace of the game, that’s not going to bode well for us.”
