LYNN — The 2019-2020 season didn’t end exactly as the St. Mary’s girls basketball team had planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which canceled their Division 3 state championship game against Hoosac Valley. But still, the Spartans walked away from the season with a championship banner (as co-champions with Hoosac) and plenty of experience to take into this winter.
“Obviously what we did last year was a tremendous accomplishment by a great group of girls,” said Spartans coach Jeff Newhall. “And since that time, we really haven’t done anything else as a basketball team. I think the main thing for us considering the situation we’re all in now is that we’re just happy to be able to get back out there as a team and play again.”
And while the Spartans lost a group of big-time contributors from last year in senior Gabby Torres, Olivia Matela and Jannise Avelino, the biggest key to success for St. Mary’s this coming winter will be its experience.
With nine players returning, including five of their eight rotation players from last year, the Spartans have both the experience and the talent to make this another strong season.
Back on the court for St. Mary’s this winter will be 2019-2020 Item Player of the Year Maiya Bergdorf, who recently committed to play Division I college ball at Sacred Heart University. Also returning are Item All-Stars Yirsy Queliz and Nicolette D’Itria, along with frequent contributors Van Nguyen, Alyssa Grossi and Pejae Parent.
“I think the biggest thing for us as a more experienced group is that we may be able to get back up to speed a little faster than in other years,” said Newhall. “That’s going to be really important in a year like this when you never know what’s going to happen.”
Sophomore Kellyn Preira is looking like she’s going to earn a starting spot this year, while other players like Abby Constine, Olivia Abbott, Lily Newhall, AJ Hyacianthe, Michelle Azzun, Lindsey Anthony and Ellie Fox will attempt to make their mark for the Spartans as well.
Once again, the Spartans will be playing one of the strongest and most competitive conference schedules in the state. Going up against their normal Catholic Central League foes such as Cathedral, Bishop Fenwick and others is one thing, but this year the CCL has also added in Bishop Feehan and Bishop Stang. Feehan is a perennial powerhouse at the Division 1 level, while Stang is always a strong competitor in Division 3.
“Our league is one of the best in the state, and it just went from strong to considerably stronger now that we’ve added Feehan and Stang,” said Newhall.
St. Mary’s has also added a couple of non-conference games in Pentucket (Division 2 state champion from 2019) and Bridgewater-Raynham (won 21 games in 2020 behind Duke commit Shay Bollin).
“Just like in year’s past, we’re trying to challenge ourselves as much as possible as we gear up for the end of the season,” said Newhall. “Obviously we won’t be playing for a state title this year, but we still want to be at our best when we get to what we hope will be a CCL tournament at the end of the year.”
The Spartans will hold the distinction of playing the first game on the North Shore this basketball season, opening the year on Dec. 26 against Pentucket. With only 11 days to go between now and then, Newhall knows that everyone is going to have to lock in during practices.
“Usually you can take your time a bit and ease into the year in terms of installing game plans and strategies,” said Newhall. “But this year we just don’t have that luxury. This could be the only time this year when the whole team is together, and once we start the season we’ll be basically playing three games a week. We want to get as much of the background work done as we can before we start the season.”