Sister Act Spurs Lady Spartans into North Final

In the third quarter of last night’s MIAA Division 3 North Sectional girls' basketball semifinal matchup between and Ipswich High, the outnumbered but unflappable Lady Spartans supporters took the art of the tournament chant to a new level.

Led by a group of costumed Teletubbies, the fans produced lyric sheets and began serenading the Gymnasium with “Truly, Madly, Deeply,” the chart-topping hit single from 1997 by the band Savage Garden.

It was an appropriate choice.

A savage garden is just what awaited No. 4 Ipswich in Wilmington Thursday night, as Stoneham seized control early on and never looked back, cruising to a 51-31 victory, and sealing a date with St. Mary’s-Lynn in the Div. 3 Championship game on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell.

“It’s unreal, I couldn’t be happier with my team or our achievement together,” said senior captain Ariana Tuccelli. “We’ve worked so hard for this, day in and day out. I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve done so far.”

For the No. 1 Lady Spartans (19-3) and coach Angela Billings, the victory erases a recent record of futility at the North semifinals.

“This is our third year in a row we’ve made it to the semis, and the first year we’ve won it,” Billings said. “So yeah, we do have a monkey off our backs.”

Billings credits the increased maturity of this year’s edition of the Lady Spartans, coupled with the vast playoff experiences of Stoneham’s six seniors as being key reasons that her team was able to get it done this year.

After losing at this stage the last two years, making it past the North Semifinals was one of Stoneham’s preseason goals.

“At the beginning of the year, this was one of our big goals,” said senior Jen Geraghty, who had a strong game on the boards, pulling down 13 rebounds to go along with eight points. “We made it to another day, hopefully we can keep it going.”

On the offensive end of the floor, it was a sister act that powered the Lady Spartans attack. Senior Vanessa Bramante (five rebounds) and younger sister Stephanie, a freshman, both notched double-digit point totals. The younger Bramante paced Stoneham with 12 points, while her sister scored 11. 

With the Lady Spartans holding a comfortable 20-point lead, Vanessa Bramante was injured with about three minutes to play in the third quarter and was unable to return to the floor. It didn't appear to be a serious injury, but the senior captain’s status for Saturday’s final remains unclear.

Stephanie Bramante stepped seamlessly into her big sister’s shoes after she went down.

“Vanessa and the starting five put up a good lead, so when she came out of the game, Stephanie really stepped it up,” Billings said. “It was probably her best game of the season.

“Playing in a hostile environment like this, in a big game, is really a credit to her hard work all season.”

The freshman forward scored 10 of her points in the second half, and was instrumental in Stoneham keeping its foot on the pedal down the stretch.

Stoneham held Hannah O’Flynn, the reigning Cape Ann League Division 2 Player of the Year, and career 1,000-point scorer to just 13 points, and limited the Tigers to just a one 3-pointer in the contest.

“We tried to deny Flynn the ball because we knew she was a great player and (the Tigers’) leading scorer,” Billings said. “We tried to deny her every time she let go of the ball.”

Free-throws also played a prominent role in Ipswich’s elimination from the tournament, as they were just 5-for-20 from the charity stripe, and Flynn, the Tigers’ senior captain, had an especially rough go of it from the line.

“They were huge,” answered Ipswich coach Mandy Zegarowski, when asked how much her team was hurt by its troubles from the free throw line. “Every time we stopped the clock and I felt like we had an opportunity to make a little run, we weren’t making our free-throws.”

Flynn converted just three of her 14 chances from the line.

“It got into our heads,” Zegarowski said. “Hannah really struggled from the line tonight. I think it was difficult for her to bounce back when her free throws weren’t falling.”

It just wasn’t the Tigers’ night. From the opening tip-off, it was evident that they just weren’t on their game. Their shots weren’t falling, they were getting pushed around underneath the basket and never really got themselves back into the game after falling behind 17-9 at the end of the first quarter. Vanessa Bramante scored nine points during the opener, proving too much for the Ipswich defense.

Tuccelli (nine points) was integral for Stoneham also, as the guard was flying around the court snatching rebounds and homing in on loose balls all night.

“I say this every time,” Billings said. “(Ariana) is the smallest kid on the team, but she’s got the biggest heart. She’s a firecracker.”

Senior Alison Brennan (seven points, five rebounds) and sophomore guard Sam Trant also turned in solid performances for the Lady Spartans.

Things followed much the same course through the second quarter, and by the time her big sister limped off the court to a standing ovation with 3:01 left in the third, Stephanie Bramante and the Lady Spartans led 38-18, and were starting to come into view of the promised land. A careful, relatively mistake-free final frame saw the Lady Spartans hold onto the lead and advance to what promises to be an epic showdown with St. Mary’s-Lynn.

Billings knows that in order for her team to take care of business on Saturday, they will need another strong and inspired effort.

“They’re very strong, very strong,” Billings said of St. Mary's-Lynn. “We’ll have our work cut out for us. We’ve scouted them a few times this year.”