DANVERS — It’s onto the Division 3 semifinals for the top-ranked Bishop Fenwick’s girls basketball team, which defeated No. 8 Pentucket 39-23 Saturday in front of a packed audience at the St. John’s Prep Memorial Gym.
Senior captain Celia Neilson put on a show, finishing with a game-high 17 points — seven of them in the final quarter during crunch time — along with eight rebounds, five steals, five assists, and two blocks.
She did everything, it seemed, but sell popcorn.
But Neilson’s all-around effort was just part of the story.
The Crusaders’ defense was flat-out punishing from start to finish, holding the Panthers to just 11 points across the final three quarters.
Trailing by five entering the fourth, Pentucket’s hopes of flipping the script were dashed by the Crusaders’ defense, which held the Panthers scoreless.
Fenwick coach Adam DeBaggis said it was a total team effort.
“I think the front-line girls — Reese (Spurchise), Abby (Jenkins), Taisha (Castillo) and Brittney (Figulski) — they’re so tough. I play in practice sometimes and I don’t want to play against them,” he said. “So, it’s that and then you’ve got Ceila and the backline with Caitlin (Boyle). It’s the girls’ tenacity and when you can do it for four quarters, that pays off.
“We talk about defense all the time. You can’t control whether shots go in. You can control the quality of shots and you can control the quality of your defense all the time. That’s the heart of our team.”
Pentucket coach John McNamara said that, while his team “played hard,” the difference in the game was the Crusaders’ defense.
“They pressured us and got us out of our offense. We had some looks, but couldn’t make our shots,” he said. “When we were five points down going into the fourth, we said, ‘We’re in it.’ This is exactly what we wanted. We just kind of melted down. They (Crusaders) deserved it; they are a great team.”
McNamara also had high praise for Neilson.
“I think she is the best player in the state,” he said. “She is so crafty and strong and smart. I don’t know how many points she had, but she made passes and made shots.”
Both teams came out firing in the first quarter. Trailing 8-4, the Crusaders closed out the quarter with a 12-4 run (eight of them from Neilson) to lead 16-12 heading into the second.
Offense ground to a halt in the second for both teams. Fenwick bumped its lead to six, 18-12, after an early bucket from Spurchise (4 points, 3 rebounds, steal, assist). Pentucket cut the deficit to two, 18-16, after a free throw and trey from Amelia Crowe (12 points). A layup from Boyle (4 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists) and a coast-to-coast steal and layup from Neilson closed out the half with the Crusaders on top 22-16.
Neither team got much going during the third quarter, with the Panthers outscoring Fenwick 7-6 to enter the final frame still within striking distance at 28-23.
Enter Neilson — and the Crusaders’ crushing defense — who delivered the knockout punch, shutting out the Panthers 11-0.
Fenwick forced a five-second violation on an early inbounds play to set the tone. Neilson then threaded the needle to freshman Castillo (6 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals) to bump the lead to 30-23.
A minute later, Neilson snagged an offensive rebound and completed an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 33-23. She added two more with a pair of free throws with five minutes to go, despite going down hard with what looked to be a serious injury.
“She went down with what I thought was a torn ACL and, all of a sudden, she’s fine and back in the game,” DeBaggis said. “I think she sometimes decides, ‘I am not getting hurt… and we’re not losing.’ She’s unbelievable.”
The Crusaders polished off the win with another Neilson baseline drive and a Castillo layup from, you guessed it, Neilson, to polish off an 11-0 run in the final frame.
“At the end, our coach said, ‘Take time off the clock’ especially being up by 10 points and we just carried on after that,” Neilson said.
Figulski (6 points) and Kyleigh Pidgeon (2 points) also contributed.
For DeBaggis, the win was a long-time coming after Fenwick was suspended from postseason play two years ago.
“I can’t lie. This is a small, little world we live in — high school girls basketball — but we’ve been through a lot,” he said. “It was a huge injustice two years ago and we didn’t really have the team we wanted to last year. For the seniors and myself, today means a lot.”
Neilson agreed.
“It’s really sweet,” she said. “It was kind of a full-circle moment, but we were able to do it for all the seniors who weren’t able to finally do it for them.”
The Crusaders (15-5) will face No. 4 Medway Tuesday at Emmanuel College (5 p.m.), where they hope to punch their ticket to the championship game for the first time since 2023 when the Crusaders lost by four against St. Mary’s.
“All I know is they have a 1,000-point scorer and they’re tough,” DeBaggis said.
