Bella Owumi, St. Mary's block out noise, roll past Pittsfield into Division 3 girls' basketball final
Riding three first-quarter 3-pointers from senior Juliana Conte, the Spartans jumped out to an early 16-2 lead. From there, St. Mary's — appearing in its sixth consecutive semifinal — was in control, ultimately defeating No. 5 Pittsfield, 59-43, to advance to this weekend's state final at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.
'Usually when that stuff happens and we get kind of frazzled about that, we just come together and we make sure we're on the same page,' said St. Mary's sophomore Bella Owumi. 'We just have to have a positive mindset and not let the fans disrupt our game.'
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'We have to be there for each other, block out the noise, and just play our game,' said Conte.
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The spirited Pittsfield crowd wasn't the only noise the Spartans (23-3) had to tune out. After graduating three 1,000-point scorers in 2023 — cornerstones of the program — naysayers around Massachusetts might've assumed the St. Mary's dynasty was over. On Monday, Owumi (19 points), Conte (14 points), freshman Charleigh Green (11 points), and senior Reese Matela (6 points) proved that it's very much alive.
And this time, younger players on past championship teams are taking the limelight.
'I tell this group all the time [that] when we walked out of Tsongas [two years ago], there were whispers of when we would ever get back here,' said St. Mary's coach Jeff Newhall. 'We knew we had a good group back then, a young group — a lot of these kids were on the team in middle school … We're certainly happy to be back here.'
The Spartans will return to Tsongas, but they'll never take the trip for granted.
'We've had a lot of appearances there, but it's not easy getting there. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication,' Owumi said.
St. Mary's Bella Owumi drew contact, and a foul, from Pittsfield's Dezerea Powell in the Division 3 semifinal at Worcester State.
EVAN WALSH
Trevor Hass can be reached at
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