BRAINTREE — Bishop Feehan can already boast to having one star player in Stonehill-bound guard Mollie Mullen.
But Tuesday’s Catholic Central League girls basketball matchup against Archbishop Williams proved the Shamrocks have another star in the making in junior guard Addie Frenette.
Frenette delivered a sensational performance on the road as she netted a career-high 22 points to go along with five assists to give Feehan a necessary offensive lift in a hard-fought 61-50 win over the Bishops at Volpe Gymnasium.
“I think we just have to know that we can’t rely on Mollie to be the star every day,” Frenette said. “We have to be able to help her out and look for other options.”
Frenette stepped up on the offensive end right away with Archbishop Williams (0-1) holding Mullen, who was coming off a 30-point performance in Feehan’s season opener, to just three points in the first half.
Frenette scored in a variety of ways, especially with hard drives to the basket, and she drilled a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the second quarter to put Feehan (2-0) ahead, 29-28, at halftime.
“I think so much of what she’s shown is a real personal growth and confidence,” Feehan head coach Amy Dolores said. “A lot of what she did here she’s had bits of it in her. So to kind of put it all together, the confidence to know when to attack and when it’s her turn instead of deferring to the older kids is really cool to see.”
Feehan couldn’t create much separation from Archbishop Williams through three quarters — the Shamrocks’ largest lead over that span was five points — as Merrimack commit Jenna Mishou (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Addie Woodgate (13 points) kept the Bishops within striking distance.
That was until the fourth quarter, when Frenette scored six straight points to create a little wiggle room before the spotlight found Mullen.
Mullen scored seven of her 14 points in the final 2:20 of the game to put the Bishops away as she sank a dagger 3-pointer before converting a layup off a steal from Frenette and hitting a jumper as part of a 10-0 run.
Mullen, who also registered nine steals, spearheaded Feehan’s vaunted defensive effort, too, as the Shamrocks forced 35 turnovers.
“We have a new identity from the teams we had in the past and hopefully we’ve found our strength,” Dolores said. “They did a good job really buying in to the defense is going to give us our offense.”
