Panthers rally

Right from pregame warmups, Cathedral coach Clinton Lassister felt his topranked Panthers might be in for a rocky start.

St. Mary’s (Lynn) made sure Lassister’s premonition came true by putting Cathedral in a 17-point hole in the first half.

But the battle-tested Panthers met their deficit head-on, using stellar defense to climb back and ultimately deny the Spartans’ upset bid with a 53-39 Catholic Central League win last night.

“I saw in the warmup line, it was just too relaxed, too nonchalant,” Lassister said. “(St. Mary’s) is going to play hard. They have good players. To come out nonchalant against a team like that, you’re down to lose. Luckily, we woke up and played our game.”

Hot shooting from Olivia Matela (14 points) put Cathedral (8-0) in a hole immediately as St. Mary’s (7-3) took a 15-2 lead after the first eight minutes.

Matela stretched the Spartans advantage to 24-7 on a jumper midway through the second quarter before Cathedral, which then ramped up the defensive pressure to force 16 first-half turnovers, ripped off 13 straight points to end the half.

Dejah Jenkins was the catalyst on the other end, knocking down two 3-pointers to trim the deficit to four going into the break.

Jenkins, who finished with a game-high 15 points, buried another triple with 3:34 left in the third to give the Panthers their first lead, 2928.

St. Mary’s managed to to level the score on a Pamela Gonzalez bucket seconds into the fourth quarter before Cathedral went on a game-clinching 16-2 run.

Amani Boston ignited the tear with two treys while Mackenzie Daleba (11 points, 12 rebounds) cleaned up down low to put the Spartans away.

“They stayed together,” Lassister said. “That’s what you work hard for. They showed their resilience. That’s what we love. I’m going to praise them for that. I’m always on their back, but today they get some praise.”