Sports

McGrath's Last-Second Shot Gives Stoughton High Girls' Basketball Dramatic Win over Foxborough

The Stoughton High girls' basketball team traveled to Foxborough coming away with a 45-44 win Tuesday night. Mackenzie McGrath hit the game-winner with 1.5 seconds left to play.

Check out the media gallery for a video interview with Mackenzie McGrath, Nicole Daniels and Ariene Ohimor.

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With the Stoughton High girls' basketball team leading Foxborough by 1, 43-42, with time running out in Tuesday's Hockomock League Davenport Division contest at Foxborough High, the Black Knights needed one more defensive stand to end the game.

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Instead, Stoughton fouled Foxborough's Ashley Snyder and she hit both free throws to put the Warriors up by 1, 44-43.

Now trailing by 1, Stoughton took a timeout with 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter to draw up the final play of the game.

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The first option, coach Janet Sullivan said, was for point guard Emma Zuk to take a hand off and drive to the lane, taking a shot or drawing a foul.

But, that didn't materialize.

The second option was for center Nicole Daniels to get the ball down low.

And that too didn't materialize.

So, Stoughton went to its third option on the possession - Zuk giving the ball to Mackenzie McGrath with McGrath circling around the right side to attempt a shot.

And McGrath delivered.

"[McGrath] just hit a beautiful short baseline jumper, nothing but net, with 1.5 seconds left," Sullivan said.

McGrath's last-second heroics gave Stoughton a dramatic 45-44 road win Tuesday night. As a result, both teams now have a 5-2 record.

"What I really liked is that with 16 seconds left we called a timeout, we set up a play, told them not to panic and they didn't," Sullivan said. "They had great composure on the floor...They took their time bringing the ball down. They looked for their options and went to the third option when that's all that there was."

What ended up as a back-and-forth game with a dramatic finish, started with Foxborough taking a 15-3 lead in the first quarter. Stoughton closed the gap to 15-8 at the end of the first and then nearly pulled even with a strong second quarter, cutting the Warriors' lead to just 23-21 at the half. Foxborough maintained that same two-point edge heading into the fourth quarter, leading Stoughton 33-31.

Stoughton outscored Foxborough 14-11 in the final quarter to earn the win.

"Obviously exciting to win on a buzzer-beater like that, but to win against a top competitive team like Foxborough [5-1 heading into the game] is great," Sullivan said.

Stoughton was led by McGrath, who had a game-high 18, obviously none bigger than the game-winner.

Zuk had 11 points. Sullivan gave her point guard credit for effectively running the team's offense and dealing with Foxborough's press all game.

Sullivan also credited Ariene Ohimor, who had 3 points and 10 rebounds, for a solid performance in her first game back after missing some time with the flu.

Daniels added 6 points and 14 rebounds and Ashley Medeiros had 5 points.

Katherine Tamulionis led Foxborough with 14 points, while Andrea Marcotte chipped in with 12 and Snyder had 11.

Stoughton returns home to host Canton this Friday night, while Foxborough hosts Milford the same night.


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