Published in the March 24, 2016 edition
BISHOP FENWICK’S SYDNEY BRENNAN, (left), brings the ball upcourt against the North Reading defense in the March 12 game played at Whittier Tech. (Bob Turosz Photo)
By BOB TUROSZ
NORTH READING — The 2016 varsity basketball season was a magical ride for North Reading’s Sydney Brennan, even before her team, the Bishop Fenwick Crusaders, won the Division 3 state championship game against Hoosac Valley at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.
Brennan and her teammates on the Bishop Fenwick girls’ varsity basketball team won their first Division 3 state title beating Hoosac Valley, 57–48, on the strength of a strong performances by Brennan and her senior co–captains, Colleen Corcoran and Ellen Fantozzi. Brennan scored 12 points in the biggest game of her life and the three seniors combined for the Crusaders’ final 11 points.
Brennan has been a four–year starter at guard for the Crusaders, has played nearly every position for Bishop Fenwick from small forward to point guard and is the team’s leading scorer at 13.5 points per game this season. The senior is a two–year team captain and two–year Catholic Central League all–star who is committed to play at Regis College next year.
With a 42 percent three–point shooting average, Brennan gave the Crusaders offense an extra dimension that served them well on their charge through the MIAA tournament to the state championship game.
Brennan helped lead the Crusaders to a 65–47 win over North Reading in the Division 3 North Sectional title game at Whittier Tech March 12, scoring 11 points. The game must have been a surreal experience for Brennan, because she’s friends with so many of the Hornet players, girls she played with all through elementary and middle school, especially her good friend Jess Lezon, North Reading’s center, who capped her senior year by passing 1,000 points in February and who is headed to Yale in the fall.
Brennan’s 12 points were absolutely key as Bishop Fenwick beat Archbishop Williams, 56 to 43 in the Division 3 Eastern Mass final at the TD Garden.
The Regis College women’s team finished the year at 24–4 and Brennan hopes to help continue the program’s success in the next four years.
