LYNN — Entering this girls basketball showdown, St. Mary’s was ranked No. 6 in Division 3, while Arlington Catholic checked in at No. 12.
Well, happy Friday. In this one, St. Mary’s showed why it’s the better team in a 66-29 final.
The Spartans came out moving the ball around and in the blink of an eye, found themselves up 11-4 midway through the first quarter.
It wasn’t just one player who hurt Arlington Catholic, but rather, everyone finding their spots and delivering. Coming off a long week in which the Spartans were in New York for a tournament, a balanced, versatile attack is what they needed.
Just ask their head coach.
“I think we had good, balanced scoring tonight. I wasn’t overly excited about our energy on defense. We weren’t moving as well as we have the last two games,” said St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall. “It’s been a long week. We were just in New York and when we came back, we had a game on Tuesday, but no excuses. I think we’re getting to the point in which we’re 18 games in and just have to keep focusing on what we’re doing to get ready for March.”
The Spartans turned up the pressure in the second quarter, spearheaded by Reese Matela (18 points) and Lily Norton (7).
Newhall praised both players postgame.
“She (Norton) was on the team last year as an eighth grader, but she’s played a lot of high-level AAU. We’re relying on her quite a bit. She’s not a prolific scorer, but the ball is in her hands on every possession. She makes great decisions because her basketball IQ is very high,” Newhall said. “If you compare it to football, she’s really our quarterback and inside linebacker. On defense, she’s the point person there, too. It’s a lot to ask of a young kid, but she doesn’t seem phased by it and plays 29-30 minutes a night.”
The rebounding has always been there, but regarding Matela, Newhall has been impressed with her finishing ability.
“[It’s] her ability to finish around the hoop. She’s always been a very good offensive player. Her 10-foot game along the baseline has really improved, but for what we’re doing, where she’s going to score her points is inside,” Newhall said. “When she goes up, she’s going to make it 80 percent of the time and from the free throw line, she’s shooting around 80-85 percent. It’s important to have a post player who can finish inside and when fouled, she’s going to make her free throws.”
St. Mary’s led 36-13 at halftime and didn’t look back. The defending champs outscored Arlington Catholic 20-8 in the third quarter to all but seal it.
“I think they were 8-2 coming in and in the power rankings, they were four or five spots behind us. It’s important in the league to win games against teams with good power rankings. Overall, it’s a good night, but there are some things we need to clean up,” Newhall said.
Despite the dominating scoreline, Arlington Catholic did give the Spartans a look they haven’t seen much this season.
“Coming into tonight, we haven’t seen a ton of man-to-man, to be honest. I think, sometimes, it takes us too long to settle into games,” Newhall said. “We think we’re versatile with balanced scoring. If we space the court properly and move the ball, everyone can put the ball in the net and I think that makes us harder to defend when we’re moving.”
St. Mary’s next game is Tuesday when it hosts Cathedral with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
St. Mary’s scoring leaders
Reese Matela: 18
Bella Owumi: 14
Jillian Roberts: 8
Charleigh Green: 8
Lily Norton: 7
Juliana Conte: 5
AJ Hyacinthe: 3
Sysy Mcausland-Emmanuel: 3
