PEABODY — Now this was a basketball game.
You had two teams playing uptempo hoops, running up and down the court, getting in each other’s way, fouling like crazy — especially in the second half — and competing from the opening tap to the closing horn.
And the final score was absolutely reflective of the game — the St. Mary’s girls defeated Bishop Fenwick, 66-64.
The game came down to the last seconds, let alone the last minute. With 2:39 to go, the Spartans led by 12 (59-47) but the Crusaders wouldn’t quit. That’s when they ripped off nine straight points, punctuated by a from-the-parking-lot 3-pointer by Erica Lendall (one of three late-game treys).
“Up by 12 at that point, I’d have hoped we could have closed it out, but we couldn’t,” said St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall. “But that’s what they do. They’re an excellent team. One of the best teams in the state. So to beat them at their place, I’ll take it.”
Niya Morgen broke the run with a bucket with 1:13 to go, but Fenwick continued its long-range shooting with Olivia Found pouring one in from beyond the arc, and all of a sudden it was 61-59 with just under one minute to go. Yirsy Queliz, one of a trio of Spartans with 17 points (Morgen and Kellyn Preira the others), sank two foul shots to put the lead back up to four for St. Mary’s. From there, each team turned the ball over — Fenwick’s coming with 27.6 seconds left. Morgen hit one of two free throws, but Found was back on the other end with two from the line. Morgen again hit one of two before Lendall was back with another three, and with 11.8 seconds showing on the clock it was a one-point game (65-54).
Preira hit one of two from the line, but Fenwick, in an attempt to throw a home-run pass, overshot the runway and the ball whipped off the back wall. With 1.8 seconds left. All St. Mary’s had to do was lob the ball down the court and gain possession of it, which it did, and the game finally ended.
“We have to start better,” said Fenwick assistant coach Dave Harrington, acting in the absence of head coach Adam DeBaggis. “We had a little trouble getting going offensively, and that hurt us tonight.”
Fenwick also ran into some hard luck late in the game when Cecilia Kay, who had a game-high 21 points and was a presence on both ends of the floor, cramped up and had to leave the game with under two minutes to go.
“She’s very active,” said Harrington. “It was a shame we lost her.”
Neither team could get too far away from the other. After a quarter it was 17-13, St. Mary’s, and the Spartans led, 29-23 at the break.,
It looked as if St. Mary’s would put some distance between itself and Fenwick in the third quarter, going up by 11 (40-2). But a 9-0 Crusader run catapulted them right back into the game.
Found ended up with 15 points for Fenwick while Maria Orfanos had 11.
Fenwick (4-3) has a quick turnaround with a road game against Beverly Thursday (6:30).
St. Mary’s (10-1) travels to Cathedral Friday (6:30).
