LYNN — It’s been nearly a year since St. Mary’s girls basketball coach Jeff Newhall walked out of Lowell’s Tsongas Center a Division 3 state champion.
The last few months have handed Newhall new players and a jump to Division 2 — the highest the school’s ever been. The roster is without Bella Owumi, Lily Norton, Reese Matela, and Juliana Conte — all of whom played key roles in hoisting the MIAA’s highly-desired hardware.
But since early December, for the most part, it’s been smooth sailing inside of the Tony C. Gymnasium and beyond. The Spartans finished 19-3 (5-1 Catholic Central League) and second in the conference, only behind Bishop Feehan.
“If you said on Dec. 1 that we’d go 19-3, we’d be really happy with that,” said Newhall, the school’s athletic director and a six-time state champion.
St. Mary’s started 7-0 and followed with a pair of six-game winning streaks. As for bumps in the road, the Spartans lost to Bishop Fenwick, Feehan in overtime, and, most recently, Andover in the Spartan Classic championship game.
“We challenge ourselves, as we always do,” Newhall said. “We’ve had a lot of growth in the team — those three games in particular.”
When asked about takeaways, Newhall noticed a familiar pattern from the three losses.
“Emotions, and how we handle them. We’ve got to be better in a single-elimination tournament. It’s just as important as putting the ball in the basket.”
Two key players have been Sysy Emmanuel, the team’s primary ball-handler, and McKenna O’Connell, who sports a tremendous basketball IQ, according to her head coach.
“We’ve gotten great contributions from everyone,” Newhall said of St. Mary’s top nine players, including Jillian Roberts and Sky Watson. “I think the identity of our team has been pressure defense to create offense and set the tone.”
Brackets will be released Saturday at 1 p.m. In the MIAA’s latest power rankings, St. Mary’s ranked third in Div. 2 behind top-ranked Whitman-Hanson (19-1) and undefeated Medfield (20-0). Fourth-ranked Foxborough (19-1) wasn’t far behind.
“I think there are 14 or 15 teams that are really good,” Newhall said of Div. 2. “With this new system, there’s a possibility of so much movement. I do know the depth of Div. 2 is the strongest in the state. We’ve got to be prepared from the opening minute when the ball goes up.”
