LYNN — Another year, another Walter J. Boverini Tournament championship for the St. Mary’s girls basketball team.
The Spartans went on the offensive right from the start in a 75-35 win over English at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium Sunday, making it their sixth tournament win in a row.
Maiya Bergdorf had another big night for the Spartans, scoring 13 points with two blocks and two steals to earn Tournament MVP honors. Yirsy Queliz came off the bench and led all scorers with 14 points. Gabby Torres (nine points), Nicolette D’Itria (nine points) and Olivia Matela (eight points) all played well.
“(Maiya) is a very good basketball player,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “She does everything well and I think that makes everyone else that much better. To be able to have somebody you can put in the middle of a zone, middle of press breaker, that you can have post up. A player you can handle the ball that can score inside and hit the three. She’s a very versatile kid.”
English never let up against a tough opponent, and English coach Mackenzie Charles have plenty of positives to take out of the game despite the loss.
“We talked about a lot of things that we just didn’t execute,” Charles said. “The environment, the speed, the pace was just too fast for us.
“We learned a lot,” Charles said. “I learned so much. We’re finding girls that really want to compete on this type of stage. It’s a tournament environment against tournament teams. We want to get those tests during the season. It’s a great lesson and hopefully some motivation.”
Kylia Reynoso (10 points) and Jessica Ruiz (13 points, nine rebounds) led the way for the Bulldogs.
The Spartans their night start off on the right note with a layup and a pair of foul shots from Torres to take a 4-0 lead. St. Mary’s extended its run with baskets from Bergdorf and Jannise Avelino to take an 8-0 lead.
English took some momentum back from there with back-to-back baskets from Ruiz to cut the lead to 8-4.
But Spartans dominated in transition scoring nine-straight points to take a 17-4 lead before an English timeout. St. Mary’s took a 25-6 lead.
The outside shooting started to heat up for with 3-pointers from Queliz and D’Itria stretching the lead to 32-6.
St. Mary’s shooters went a bit cold from there and English took the opportunity to inch back at bit. Reynoso had a big second quarter with seven points but English still trailed 39-15 heading into the half.
“Even though we were up 14 at the half, I just worry about what we’re doing,” Newhall said. “Another night we could be in a tie game, take seven 3’s in the last four minutes and now we’re down at the half. It’s just thinking about where we are and where we’re going in the second half. That little stretch there was shaky but we came out in the second half and went on a run. We came out flying so that was good.”
Matela and D’Itria opened the second half with 3-pointers and the shooting opened up again from there. St. Mary’s scored a game-high 28 points in the quarter to take a commanding 61-28 lead.
Ruiz ended her night strong with nine second-half points but the Spartans second unit kept pace in the 75-35 win.
“I was happy to see (Ruiz) have confidence,” Charles said. “That’s what she has struggled with in the past. If she can have that against a good team like St. Mary’s she has to be able to bring that every night. I think she’s done that. Stuff like that were some positives we found (Sunday).”
English (3-1) travels to Salem Friday (7) while the Spartans (7-1) host Nauset Saturday (5:45).
