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In most BSAL matchups, the St. Mary’s girls’ basketball team just wears their opponents out. But on Thursday, Holy Names just refused to go away, taking the Panthers down to the buzzer and losing 37-35. 

The Panthers came close to blowing a six-point lead with just two minutes left to play. Holy Names had three different possessions that could have given them the lead, but the Monarchs just couldn’t quite make it all the way back. 

“It’s hard to play a team three times in one season,” St. Mary’s head coach Don Lawson said. “They figured out how to play us. Their coach is very good, and he did some things tonight that offset our strengths.” 

The main thing the Monarchs did was collapse on the St. Mary’s post players anytime the ball went inside. That strategy helped hold freshman Shantrell Sneed, who averages nearly 20 points per game, to just 12 points, and senior Kamaiya Warren to just 4 points. Sneed often settled for medium-range jumpers rather than going inside, probably a good idea while she recovers from a sprained knee. The freshman also took a hard fall into her own bench early in Thursday’s game, but appeared to be unharmed. 

St. Mary’s opened its largest lead at 18-8 early in the second quarter with a 10-0 run, but the Monarchs cut the lead to 22-18 at halftime. With their inside game handcuffed, the Panthers started heaving up shots from the outside, hitting with irregularity and keeping Holy Names close. Although St. Mary’s pulled out to a 32-25 lead early in the fourth quarter, they just couldn’t put together a finishing run.  

Guard Meghan Leary made a free throw to make the score 37-31 with two minutes left in the game, but that was the last time St. Mary’s would score. Holy Names would get buckets from Johana Padilla and Beth Costa to get within two points with 16 seconds left, and Leary committed a travel to give them the ball back with 11 second on the clock. But Leary made up for her gaffe by stealing the ball back. She was fouled with 0.8 seconds left and missed her free throw, but Junai Dawson couldn’t gather the ball in for a shot. 

St. Mary’s will face top-seeded Kennedy in the final on Saturday. The Eagles blew through the regular season undefeated in the BSAL, leaning on the strength of senior center Diedra Chatman. Lawson thinks his team matches up well with Kennedy. 

“I think we’ll actually have a much better chance to get the ball inside than we did tonight,” he said. “They’ll put Deidra on Kamaiya, but they don’t have anyone else to match up with Shantrell. They’ll try to pressure our guards, so we need good perimeter play.”