LYNN – Coming down the stretch, St. Mary’s of Lynn relied on defense and the usual offensive stars in a Catholic Central matchup against rival Bishop Feehan at Tony C. Gymnasium on Friday night.
A timely steal and free throws put away the Shamrocks 55-50 as the Spartans came away with a win after trailing in the second quarter by double digits.
“(Bishop Feehan) is an excellent team and an excellent program,” said St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall. “So, I expected nothing less than this. We were both unbeaten in the league, so I figured it would be a one or two possession game.”
With the game knotted 47-47 with 2:20 to go, senior Niya Morgen scored on a deep two-point shot to put St. Mary’s (14-1) up 49-47. Morgen finished with a game-high 21 points and now sits just 24 points shy of 1,000 for her career.
“(Morgen) just made some big baskets,” Newhall said. “With a tie game, that little runner at the baseline (was huge).”
Bishop Feehan (11-3) rallied after a Yirsy Queliz (11 points) bucket as Madelyn Steel knocked down a triple to make it a 51-50 contest with under a minute to go. Queliz followed that up a couple possessions later with a key steal. Eighth-grader Bella Owumi (13 points, 10 rebounds) nailed down three of four free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
“(Queliz) was trying to get steals all night, so it was only a matter of time before she finally got one,” Newhall said about the senior. “We have seniors that have been in these (close) games before. I think we are ready to play the game.”
In the first half, the Spartans fell down 21-11 early in the second quarter, but came away with a 27-24 advantage at the half thanks to a 16-3 run.
“We made some big shots during that run, but the most important thing is we got stops,” said Newhall.
As a team, St. Mary’s allowed just 2-of-12 from the field in the second quarter after allowing 8-of-12 in the first.
For the Shamrocks, senior Sammy Reale led with 15 points, including a clutch three-pointer to tie the game 47-47 in the fourth. Every starter scored at least one field goal in the first quarter for them as well to build an 18-11 lead after one.
The teams will meet again Tuesday, Feb. 14 at Bishop Feehan.
