Stoughton High Girls’ Basketball Beats Sharon in OT

The Sharon High varsity girls basketball team’s five-game winning streak ended Tuesday night in overtime.

Visiting outscored Sharon 6-0 in the four-minute overtime to win, 48-42. It was Sharon's second overtime loss of the season. The Eagles fall to 5-3, while the Black Knights improve to 5-4, already matching last season’s win total (5-13). 

Stoughton has now won three of its last four and has notched back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

Stoughton senior co-captain and forward Chrystal Holland scored four of her team’s six points in overtime. And her basket tied the score at 42 with about 2:20 left in regulation. Sharon had taken a 42-40 lead with about four minutes left, on consecutive baskets by junior guard Katie Lowerre.

"We were trying to run that clock down at the end of regulation to make sure we got the last shot, and we don't even get a shot away," Sharon head coach Kate Horsmann said.

"That's kind of a killer. But I think we played very well."

Holland finished with 15 points—10 between the fourth quarter and overtime.

Junior center Nicole Daniels led Stoughton with 16 points.

"Our big guys [Holland and Daniels] underneath did a great job for us," Stoughton head coach Janet Sullivan said.

"Obviously, they did the bulk of our scoring. If you look at our shot chart, you'll see it's all in the key. But they also did a great job on the boards, holding [Sharon] to one shot [per possession].

"Sharon is a great outside shooting team. Our defense worked real hard on them. Fortunately, we kept them, for the most part, to one shot."

Stoughton led 17-3 after the first quarter, but the Eagles chipped away at the lead, cutting it to 6 (23-17) at halftime and 3 (35-32) after three quarters.

"Anytime we've seen extended zone defenses, we've struggled, because we try to run our plays and we don't do anything natural," Horsmann explained.

"So the second period, I told them, 'Don't run a play. Just play basketball.' And all of a sudden, we were scoring."

Sharon also had Lowerre guard Holland, "because she just extends a lot more. Chrystal was really hurting us. And I think that was key," Horsmann said.

Lowerre scored six of her 10 points during the fourth quarter. Sophomore guard Karlie O'Driscoll also finished with 10.

Both teams play again on Friday. Sharon travels to at 7 p.m., while Stoughton hosts Canton at 6:30 p.m.