LYNN – St. Mary’s Lily Norton picked a perfect moment for the first buzzer beater of her career.
The sophomore guard connected on a floater from the middle of the key as time expired to push St. Mary’s past girls basketball juggernaut Bishop Feehan, 63-61, at a packed Tony C. Gymnasium.
“My mission was to get to the basket,” said Norton. “As soon as I put it up, I knew it was going in.”
Decimal points separate these two teams in the MIAA power rankings. Defending state champ Feehan is ranked number one in Division 1, the exact spot St. Mary’s (16-2) stands in D3. So it was only fitting that the game unfolded in the manner it did, with both sides taking turns flexing their muscle.
Feehan (16-1) was the early aggressor, jumping ahead, 17-4, just seven minutes into the contest. St. Mary’s countered with a run of their own, trailing only by three, 29-26, at the half. Feehan then crafted a 16-5 run to open the third, but that was all for naught when St. Mary’s closed the quarter with a 12-2 run.
“When we’re down and it looks like we’re out, that’s when we play our best basketball,” said St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall. “That’s been the story all season. We came out with no energy to start the second half and it looked like we might get blown out of the gym, so to come back against a team of Feehan’s caliber, it shows our will to win.”
Powered by the sensational Bella Owumi, who led all scorers with 26 points, St. Mary’s played ferocious defense. The Spartans forced Feehan into 12 second-half turnovers while limiting themselves to just seven, and Owumi was especially active in the full court press.
“You can always control your effort on defense, and that’s where we locked in,” said Owumi. “That was a team effort. We needed to get in their face if we were going to win.”
While Tufts-bound senior captain Maddy Steel (two points, four rebounds, and three assists) struggled to score in her typical manner, Feehan’s attack was led by senior captains Mollie Mullen (23 points, six steals) and Lily Singer (23 points, five rebounds, and four assists).
Despite turnovers and missed free throws – St. Mary’s hit all 14 attempts from the line, while the Shamrocks went only three-for-six – it still appeared the game was destined for overtime when Mullen drained a corner three with eight seconds to play. And while the replay showed the game-winner was scored after time expired, Feehan coach Amy Dolores was all class following the game.
“I’m so proud of my team and their effort,” said Dolores. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, but they left it all out on the floor. This was a great test for us. St. Mary’s is an incredible defensive team, and they ramped it up in the second half.”
Along with key contributions from Reese Matela and Jillian Roberts, St. Mary’s was able to win the game and even out their season series with Feehan. For a team with championship aspirations, Newhall was thrilled with the way his Spartans executed down the stretch.
“Feehan is ranked number one and they’re the defending state champs, and our girls went out and did something special,” said Newhall. “I’m super happy for the way we hung in there. We willed ourselves back and made enough plays in the end.”