If it was the only playoff championship Bishop Fenwick’s girls basketball team is able to chase during the 2023-24 school year, the Crusaders certainly made it count.
Monday night under the lights at Plains Park, Fenwick more than doubled up crosstown rival and two-time defending champion Peabody with a 59-24 victory to earn the North Shore High School Basketball League playoff championship.
Senior Cecelia Kay, the reigning Salem News Girls Basketball Player of the Year who committed to Division 1 American University this summer, outscored the Tanners on her own with a game-high 26-point outburst. For good measure, she had double-digit rebounds and nearly had double-digits in blocks with four in the first quarter alone.
“Next year’s Bishop Fenwick Crusaders could be one of the best girls basketball teams on the North Shore, of all time,” noted Ben Keenan, who has organized the popular summer league in Danvers for more than a dozen years.
Fenwick shot out to a 17-3 lead but Peabody did not go away quietly. Their own senior stalwart and reigning Northeastern Conference MVP Logan Lomasney got rolling in the second quarter and the defending champs cut the lead to six by halftime at 24-18.
The young guns on the Crusaders caught fire in the third, though, to put the title away. Anna Fertonani combined with Kay for 20 points in that frame and Fenwick built a lead too big for Peabody to overcome.
Fertonani had 11 total points for Fenwick while fellow sophomore Celia Nielsen added seven. Katelyn Boyle added six with a key early three ball and Kiley Bloom scored five.
For the Tanners, Lomasney did the bulk of the damage with 11 points and solid shooter Liv Gaynor added nine.
There were 13 total teams in the league this summer with Peabody winning the regular season title. Fenwick was the No. 3 seed but swept its way through the double-elimination playoffs, toppling the Tanners in both the semis and finals. North Reading and Beverly were the other squads to reach the Final Four while Pingree had a strong regular season at No. 2 in the standings.
“It was another successful summer season with some of the best girls high school basketball post pandemic,” said Keenan. “The biggest takeaway was the number of impressive young players throughout the league. The future of girls high school basketball on the North Shore is very bright.”