BOSTON — The No. 5 St. Mary’s girls basketball team – riding three consecutive Division state championships – hadn’t lost a state tournament game since 2019. But unfortunately for the Spartans, all good things must come to an end.
Tuesday evening against top-seeded Foxborough, the streak ended with a 65-34 defeat at the neutral site of UMass Boston.
It truly was a meeting of champions, as Foxborough lifted the trophy as a Division 2 program last season.
The semifinal game began with a 9-1 run from the Warriors, but the Spartans retaliated to get it to 12-7 by the end of the first quarter. Foxborough boasted a balanced attack that included lots of threes, and an urgency to get the ball inside to Addie Ruter (11 points).
But, the Warriors got into foul trouble toward the middle of the second quarter. St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall thought it would be a way back into the game.
“I think in a lot of high school sports, it’s ‘How many people are you hiding?’ And they’re hiding no one,” Newhall said. “I thought we had a chance in the second quarter… I figured with our pressure, we could get it down to five or six, but they outscored us in that span. It shows their depth.”
St. Mary’s trailed, 28-15, at halftime.
And in the third quarter, fatigue started to hit the Spartans, who began to turn the ball over in exchange for transition baskets.
“I think we played well defensively,” Newhall said. “Once we got worn down and tired in the second half, they got some runouts.”
Foxborough coach Lisa Downs also noticed the fatigue.
“We knew they were getting a little tired and their ball-handlers were getting a bit uncomfortable with the ball compared to earlier in the game, so we tried to expose that,” said Downs, whose team faces No. 2 Norwell in the state championship. “We just tried to double them when we could.”
The Warriors kept their foot on the gas, outscoring St. Mary’s, 24-10, in the third quarter and 13-9 in the fourth to punch their ticket to the title game.
“They’re a very good team. There’s a reason why they were the heavy favorite. They were No. 1 in the state all year,” Newhall said. “They played very well on both ends of the floor.”
For Downs, she admitted her team’s high ranking led to lots of noise.
“When you start No. 1, I was like, ‘I don’t know’ because a couple of years ago, no one really knew about us, so I was happy to be ranked 8 or 9 and have no one talking about us until the tournament,” she said. “They knew about us all season long, so it was hard because every game you’re going into with a big X on your back.”
Similarly to Hanover coach Brian Fisher on Friday night, Downs looked to slow down Bella Owumi.
“We know how good Bella is, as everyone does. We put Camryn Collins (Rider University commit), who is probably the most athletic person I’ve ever coached, on her and that was her assignment – to make every single touch she had hard, and every shot difficult,” Downs said. “They drive the ball a lot, so we had to make sure our help defense was there. We had to play a bit differently since we don’t normally defend like that.”
Despite the loss, Newhall was proud of his team for proving critics wrong – those who didn’t think the Spartans could get back to the Final 4.
“They’re a part of something special, and being part of this program, the bar is set very high,” Newhall said. “It’s disappointing to not get to that point, but with what we lost and to get back to where we are, there’s no moral victories… It’s a testament to the kids.”
Newhall also praised his lone senior, AJ Hyacinthe, for her four years in the program.
“AJ, being our only senior, has been a big part of our team the last four years. She was a role player on our state championship teams and took a much bigger role on and off the court this year,” Newhall said. “She was awesome and is certainly going to be missed.”
His Spartans gained valuable experience this winter, and Newhall is hoping for another run in no time.
“We won 20 consecutive games in a single-elimination basketball tournament,” Newhall said. “To go five years between losses in the postseason, hopefully, we’ll go another five in between this one and the next one.”
