LYNN — When you have two of the top teams in the Bay State squaring off, expect fireworks. Friday night at the Tony C. Gymnasium, St. Mary’s took down Bishop Feehan (Attleborough) in a 63-61 final.
With one minute remaining in the fourth quarter, St. Mary’s led by four, 59-55, before Feehan’s Lily Singer (21 points) drilled a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one point.
On the ensuing possession, the Shamrocks fouled Bella Owumi (26 points) and sent her to the free-throw line with 24.4 seconds remaining. The sophomore, with ice in her veins, drilled both free throws to make it a three-point game, 61-58.
Feehan’s Shannon LaMorticelli then grabbed an offensive rebound and found sharpshooter Mollie Mullen (25 points, 5 threes, 6 steals) behind the arc. From there, Mullen drilled a game-tying triple with seven seconds remaining.
The Spartans inbounded to Owumi, who passed the ball upcourt to Lily Norton who drove down the lane, hop-stepped inside the paint, and scored on a floater as the buzzer sounded.
What a time it was for Norton’s first career game-winner – better yet, to clinch the Catholic Central League title.
“When I caught the ball in the final seconds, I really had one mission: get to the basket,” she said. “It was the best moment.”
The basket came with some controversy regarding the amount of time on the clock.
“I need to watch it again. It’s a game and that’s how it happens sometimes,” said Feehan coach Amy Dolores. “I’m just really proud of the effort from my team.”
St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall admitted he was too focused on the basket to notice if Norton beat the buzzer or not.
“I was watching her. We have three officials and we spend a lot of money to have backboards that illuminate at the buzzer, so once it went in, I saw all the refs say, ‘yeah,’ so I’ll go with their opinions tonight,” Newhall said. “Lily does a lot for us. She plays more minutes than anyone. She’s the key to everything we do. She’s our point guard, she distributes the ball, she doesn’t score a ton, but leads the team in assists and steals. We feel really good when the ball is in her hands and good things happen to good people. She deserves it and works a ton.”
The Shamrocks led just 29-26 at halftime. To start the second half, however, Feehan extended its lead to 40-28.
Mullen was hurting the Spartans from everywhere, drawing praise from her head coach.
“Mollie’s been so good,” Dolores said. “She’s really taken on a huge part of the scoring load for us the last couple of weeks. She stepped up. She’s super gutsy and tough. I don’t think she sat out for one minute in that game.”
Speaking of stepping up, so did Jillian Roberts of the Spartans. Roberts scored 10 of her 12 points in the third quarter to help rally St. Mary’s. Roberts connected on two and-1 baskets to spark her team.
“She’s been in a lot of big games. As a freshman, we were tied against Fenwick at Tsongas (Center in Lowell) and she hit a two after we didn’t score for 10 minutes… She’s one of those kids that once she gets into the flow of the game, she can shoot the ball and get the ball downhill,” Newhall said. “Her defense was exceptional, too. She started cramping in the fourth, unfortunately.”
In the fourth quarter, Owumi took control. She scored 11 of her team’s 20 fourth-quarter points. The Spartans also forced 12 second-half turnovers.
“Our energy is really intense on defense,” Owumi said. “We put our egos aside and became a team, and I think that’s the most important part of the game – to come together.”
A player who didn’t fill up the statsheet, but made an impact was senior guard Juliana Conte. The senior was tasked with following Feehan’s Madelyn Steel, who is a 1,000-point scorer.
Conte and the rest of the Spartans held Steel to just two points.
“She did a great job. We had specific plans on Steel and we weren’t going to help off of her at all because she beat us pretty bad in three straight games and she’s the reigning MVP of the league,” Newhall said. “That’s why they’re a great team. We took their best player out of the game and their next two scorers scored 25 and 21.”
St. Mary’s next game is Monday when it travels to Acton-Boxborough for a 6 p.m. showdown.
