LYNN — Going up against a hungry team full of sharpshooting whirling dervishes is usually not a recipe for success on the basketball court.
It certainly wasn’t for the Bishop Fenwick girls Friday night, who went into Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium, fell behind by host St. Mary’s of Lynn early, and could never quite fight all the way back in suffering a 70-60 loss before a full crowd.
“They played with better energy in that first quarter. We were down by 10 points after one, and ended up losing by 10,” said long-time Fenwick head coach Adam DeBaggis. “There were a lot of things we could’ve done better, but they also hit a bunch of shots. We left them wide open at times due to some silly decisions on defense.”
With 3:02 to play in the third quarter, Crusaders senior captain Celia Neilson scored the 1,000th and 1,001st points of her career on a runner from the right side that went off the backboard and in. She finished with a team-leading 25 points, giving her 1,009 total in her four-year high school career.
“It’s definitely a blessing. I couldn’t have done this without my teammates, my family and my coaches,” said Neilson, who also had a team-high seven assists.
“I didn’t want to know how close I was (to 1,000),” she added. “It wasn’t until I made that shot and my best friend, Caitlin (Boyle, another Fenwick captain) came over and hugged me.”
That momentous bucket by Neilson was part of a 11-0 run for Fenwick that saw them slice a 17-point deficit down to six (47-41). But every time Fenwick attempted to get close from that point forward, St. Mary’s Lynn responded with scoring of its own.
The host Spartans, as is their custom, trapped and pressed Bishop Fenwick (now 10-3) any time they tried to inbound the ball or bring it upcourt, and doubled the player with the ball whenever possible. That led to a plethora of turnovers and 18 steals to go with another 11 deflections for the hosts.
“We got off to a good start with our defense,” veteran Spartans head coach Jeff Newhall said after his team improved to 14-2. “Teams can prepare for us to a certain degree — Fenwick certainly can, seeing as how they beat us (55-46) the first time we played this year — but it’s hard to replicate the speed that we play with. We were better off ball and on ball tonight than we had been.”
Not only was St. Mary’s looking to avenge their earlier loss to Fenwick, but they also came into the game coming off a tough week, including an overtime road loss to the state’s top ranked team, fellow Catholic Central League member Bishop Feehan, after leading by 12 at halftime. That was preceded by a one-point victory at Cathedral, snow cancelling practice for three days, and a poor showing at Arlington Catholic, said Newhall.
“We challenged the girls that at some point, enough is enough. You have to come out and play the way we know we can. We played like the desperate team that we were coming in.”
“Our biggest flaw was that we didn’t come out and play full speed,” said DeBaggis. “They were ready to play full speed right away, and we weren’t.”
Superstar freshman Sysy Emmanuel was the main offensive catalyst for St. Mary’s, dropping a game-high 30 points. On the varsity since her seventh grade year, the guard played and shot the ball with poise and confidence, draining big shots (including a quartet of 3-pointers) to always keep the visitors at bay.
“We’d been waiting for this breakout game from Sysy,” said Newhall. “She averages 14-15 points a game, but we knew she had a night like this in her. She’s capable of doing it more than once a year, too.”
Freshman McKenna O’Donnell also had a nice game for the winners with 12 first quarter points, all but three of those coming via 3-pointers. Janae Holmes, another freshman starter, added eight points while sophomore big Charleigh Green of Beverly added six and several big rebounds.
Boyle, a Beverly resident who like Neilson played all 32 points, finished with 10 points for the Crusaders. Sophomore Jane Koulopoulos of Danvers came off the bench to score nine points, and captain Brittney Figulski finished with seven. Junior guard Abby Jenkins and freshman Taisha Castillo (6 points), both from Peabody, were strong defensively.
“What we need to learn from this game,” said DeBaggis, “is if we’re going to be flat in the first quarter and you can’t catch up, it’s eventually going to be a sad bus ride home from a state tournament game. We need to play hard start to finish for the full 32 minutes as best we can.”
St. Mary’s Lynn 70, Bishop Fenwick 60
at Tony Conligliaro Gymnasium, Lynn
Bishop Fenwick — Celia Neilson 9-5-25, Caitlin Boyle 3-4-10, Britney Figulski 3-1-7, Abby Jenkins 1-0-2, Reese Spurchise 0-0-0, Kyleigh Pidgeon 0-2-2, Jane Koulopoulos 4-0-9, Taisha Castillo 2-1-5. Totals 22-13-60.
St. Mary’s Lynn — Sysy Emmnanuel 12-2-30, Jillian Roberts 2-1-6, Janae Holmes 3-0-8, McKenna O’Connell 4-1-12, Charleigh Green 2-1-6, Sky Watson 1-2-4, Taylor Roberts 0-0-0, Lina Owumi 1-1-3, Jaylin Frye 0-1-1. Totals 25-9-70.
Halftime: St. Mary’s Lynn, 39-30.
Three-pointers: BF, Neilson 2, Koulopoulos; SML, Emmanuel 4, O’Connell 3, Holmes 2, Roberts, Green.
Records: BF 10-3; SML 14-2.