By Jim Clark
GARDNER -- All good things must come to an end, and for the Fitchburg High girls' basketball team, that meant finally losing in the Mount Wachusett Invitational. Winners of the tournament each of the previous five years, the Red Raiders hit a roadblock Saturday afternoon against Stacy Mattioli and St. Peter-Marian. Mattioli tossed in a game-high 28 points as the Guardians pulled away in the second half for a 66-58 win in a Large Schools division game..
Fitchburg (9-9) scored the first eight points of the game and led by as much as 10 early. But St. Peter-Marian raced back to force a 32-all tie at the half, and once the Guardians finally got the lead in the second half, FHS never fully recovered. "They just didn't seem like they came to play today," said FHS coach Tony Alario.
The Raiders certainly had no answer for Mattioli who has earned a full scholarship to play at Assumption next year. She had seven points in a key 14-2 run early in the second half that gave the Guardians (10-8) a 46-36 lead with 9:48 to play.
Fitchburg fought back with a 9-2 run of its own, getting seven points from Sara Thomas (28 points, 12 rebounds) to cut it to 50-47 with 7:21 left. That all came with Mattioli taking a breather on the bench, but she returned to ht a short jumper from the right base-line, and later added her second three-ponter to push the led back to eight, 57-49 with 4:44 to go.
The Raiders made one last push, with Thomas hitting a three from the top of the key with 59 seconds left to close it to 61-58. But St Peter- Marian would ride the free throw line the rest of the way.
"We stopped doing what we do best," Alario said. "We stopped penetrating, and everyone was standing around watching Shelly (Richard) and Sara." They had it all working early, as Thomas and Richard (12 points, 7 assists, 6 steals sparked the Raiders to a quick 14-4 lead. But the Guardians rallied behind Mattioli and freshman Elizabeth Leonard (14 points), and though they would never take the lead in the first half, the Guardians pulled even for the first time on Amy Ruffo's jumper at the buzzer.
A Thomas hoop on a long pass from Richard gave FHS the lead back to start the second half, but Mattioli tied it from the left side and Fitchburg would never be in command again.