LYNN — When the St. Mary’s and Saugus girls basketball teams agreed to play each other in the season opener for both squads, the two teams were looking for the same thing: an early season test against a competitive opponent.
This time around, it was the Spartans that aced the test with a 58-37 win over the Sachems at Conigliaro Gymnasium.
“It’s good to start with a win,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “It was a little sloppy. We had three days of tryouts, we were in Connecticut last weekend. We’ve only had three practices with this team. We have a lot of work to do but when we forced the pace of the game, I liked the way things were going.”
St. Mary’s senior forward Olivia Nazaire led all scorers with 15 points, while junior guard Pamela Gonzalez added 14 points.
For Saugus, junior guard Alessia Salzillo tallied 10 points and sophomore forward Molly Granara added seven points.
“St. Mary’s is a great program,” Saugus coach Mark Schruender said. “I talked to Coach Newhall about how good an opportunity this is for both teams. You just want to get better, that’s the main goal. You schedule tough games in the early goings and you build on that.”
Threes were the name of the game early on for the Spartans. First it was Gonzalez who swished a three. Then Nicolette D’Itria and Gabby Torres each followed with a make from beyond the arc. That proved to be the difference as the Spartans led 17-8 after one quarter.
“We were playing at a hectic pace and forced Saugus into turnovers,” Newhall said. “We were getting some easier shots. I thought our ball movement was good all night. We hit some threes early on and we sort of relied on that a little too much.”
St. Mary’s kept its momentum in the second quarter, as Mashayla Johnson and Christina Nowicki knocked down threes to boost the lead to 23-8. Saugus climbed back in with a 7-0 run to pull within eight points, down 23-15. Nazaire ended the drought, and the half, with a hook shot to put the Spartans ahead 25-15 at recess.
The St. Mary’s offense stalled in the early goings of the third quarter, when Saugus executed its press defense. Shaylin Groark hit a floater to slim the deficit to one, 25-24, midway through the period. From there, Gonzalez and Nazaire led a St. Mary’s surge that saw the Spartans build a 39-28 lead after three quarters.
“We went to a different defense,” Schruender said. “We were going to a 2-2-1 zone there. It’s a credit to the kids for executing and doing what they had to do. Our kids up front were putting enough pressure on the ball and the kids in the middle were quick to the ball. It was five kids sprinting into spaces and making plays collectively.”
Saugus didn’t have enough left in the tank to mount another comeback in the fourth quarter. A 6-0 Spartans rally to start the period bumped their advantage to 45-28, en route to the 58-37 win.
“We started scoring and that enabled us to get into our press defense,” Newhall said. It was the pace of the game. We don’t want to slow it down, we want to play fast both ways. We made some correctable mistakes but we’re happy with where we’re at after the first game.”
St. Mary’s (1-0) hosts Archbishop Williams on Monday night. Saugus (0-1) will aim for its first win of the young season next Friday night at Everett.