Stoughton High Girls' Basketball Cruises in Regular Season Finale; Looks Ahead to Postseason

The Stoughton High girls' basketball team jumped out to an early lead en route to a 60-33 win in the regular season finale Tuesday against Notre Dame Academy at the Sharon Basketball Classic.

Stoughton, now 13-7, will prep for the MIAA state tournament. On Friday the team will find out its seeding in the Division 1 South Sectional bracket and if it will get to host a tournament game, Stoughton coach Janet Sullivan said. 

The victory over Notre Dame was the perfect tuneup for a Black Knights team that had lost two in a row heading into Tuesday's game and was looking for a positive showing before heading into the postseason.

"It was a total team win. We were hitting on all cylinders," Sullivan said. 

Stoughton shot close to 50-percent on Tuesday and had a balanced attack on offense - outside and inside. Mackenzie McGrath and Ashley Medeiros led the outside shooting game, and Sullivan gave credit to Nicole Daniels, Kayla Motley, and Ariene Ohimor and Emily Cramer for helping to "dominate the boards" and provide a "good inside presence offensively." 

Stoughton led 16-5 at the end of the first and with about a minute to go in the second quarter, led 33-7. Notre Dame put five quick points up on the board, but Medeiros hit a half court shot opposite the Stoughton bench at the buzzer to give the Black Knights a 36-12 lead at the half.

The Stoughton lead ballooned to 34 points by the end of the third quarter, 54-20, with the Black Knights ultimately turning in a 27-point victory. 

"They are a team that has a great pressure defense. They press teams. We knew it was coming and we handled it beautifully. We had a minimum of turnovers," Sullivan said. "Credit Emma Zuk who brought the ball up all night against tremendous pressure and kept our team on track."

McGrath led Stoughton with 17 points and had 3 assists; Nicole Daniels had 15 points and 13 rebounds; Medeiros added 11 points and 2 steals; Motley had 7 points and 2 rebounds; Ohimor had 3 points and 7 rebounds and Zuk had 3 points and 6 assists.