LYNN — New division, same success for the No. 3 St. Mary’s girls basketball team, which cruised to a 75-43 home win against No. 6 Walpole in the Division 2 state tournament. The Spartans won last season’s Div. 3 title.
Despite the final score, the game was tight toward the beginning. St. Mary’s jumped to a 5-0 lead before Walpole switched to a zone defense and went on an 11-0 run. St. Mary’s closed the quarter ahead 13-12 with sophomore Charleigh Green (18 points) scoring 11 of the Spartans’ 13 points.
“This is her third year and she’s played in a lot of big games. She struggled a little bit throughout the year with illnesses and a couple of nagging injuries, but she’s starting to feel pretty good and she’s really key for us, especially against the zone because she sees the floor so well,” said St. coach and Athletic Director Jeff Newhall. “She can make the jumper, she can attack the hoop, she dives down from the high post, second-chance points, and does a good job rebounding. She presents a lot of problems for other teams, specifically against the zone.”
In the second quarter, Walpole couldn’t keep up with the high pace and intensity that St. Mary’s played with. The Spartans continued to press, forcing Walpole into consecutive turnovers leading to layups and open shots that started to fall. With 4:32 remaining in the second quarter, McKenna O’Connell drilled a side-step corner three to give St. Mary’s a 25-12 lead, forcing Walpole to take a timeout.
The run didn’t stop there for St. Mary’s, which overpowered the Timberwolves. Sky Watson drilled a top-of-the-key three at the buzzer to give St. Mary’s a 41-19 halftime advantage.
The Spartans won the second quarter 28-7.
“I think we played very well tonight. I think we got the pace we wanted almost immediately. I know they got off to a little bit of a lead, which is not uncommon, especially lately. We kept our composure and I thought our ball pressure and our rotations were really good,” Newhall said. “Offensively, we scored a lot of points and they’re a good defensive team. I thought our ball movement was excellent. Sysy (Emmanuel) is the catalyst with the ball in her hands and she’s been playing very well. I thought it was a complete game for us.”
Emmanuel (game-high 26 points) scored 16 points in the second quarter.
“The work that she’s done over the last couple of years — here and with the MCW Starz — she’s played at a high level consistently for almost two years. I don’t think any moment is too big for her,” Newhall said. “She’s had her challenges this year, certainly, but I think with the schedule we played, the league we play in, she’s really getting dogged every night, so I don’t think she saw anything different tonight than she has all year. She’s just a little more relaxed in terms of her decision-making as opposed to rushing herself.”
Newhall praised Walpole’s Bella Bingham (15 points) and called her a “tremendous” player.
“I thought a combination of Jill Roberts and Lina Owumi covering her full-court the whole night and rotating them worked well. That’s what you have to do when a player is that special,” Newhall said. “I think it worked. She still had her fair amount of points, but I think she had to work for it and I think we wore her down a little bit.”
After being crowned champion last March, St. Mary’s moved up to a tightly-contested Div. 2 and is now one win from the championship game. Before the season started, the Spartans graduated two starters and lost another two to Prep school. Their leading scorer, Gabi Lorenzini, also tore her ACL.
“Gabi Lorenzini started and was our leading scorer through the first seven games, so we didn’t have her. I just think it’s the belief and the culture that was built by the kids previous to the group we have now,” Newhall said. “They believe. They played with a lot of those kids, they practiced with those kids. This is the eighth straight year that we’re going to be playing in the last week of the MIAA basketball season. That’s not the coach or one player; that’s the program and the culture. That’s certainly something we’re all proud of, but the kids deserve the credit for doing what they’re doing.”
St. Mary’s will face the winner of Friday’s game between No. 2 Whitman-Hanson and No. 7 Oliver Ames.
