Stoughton High Girls' Basketball Ends Postseason Run with Quarterfinal Loss at Braintree

The Stoughton High girls' basketball team went into Friday night's tournament game as the consensus underdog, traveling to Braintree, last season's Division 1 South Sectional Champion.

And while the Black Knights lost, 70-46, in what appears to be a lopsided margin, they were no easy out - Stoughton kept the game close throughout the first half, and even when the team fell behind by double digits in the second half, fought back.

After trailing by as much as 17 with 3:16 left in the third quarter, Stoughton went on a 12-4 run to end the third and start the fourth. Two free throws from Nicole Daniels brought Stoughton within nine points, 43-34, with 7:56 to play. 

When Braintree increased the lead to 13, Mackenzie McGrath hit a three-pointer to close the gap to 47-37 with 6:38 left. 

But that was as close as Stoughton would get as Braintree responded with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes en route to a 24-point win in the quarterfinals of the Division 1 South Sectional tournament.

Stoughton, the 10th seed in the tournament, fresh off Wednesday's first round win at #7 Plymouth South, was trying to knock off #2 Braintree, the highest remaining seed left in the tournament, but instead the Wamps (22-2) will advance to play #11 Wellesley in the semifinals at Massasoit Community College (date and time TBA).

Stoughton ends the season 14-8, 13-7 in the regular season. 

"When you're in tournament everyone knows it's one and done and they left nothing in the tank tonight. They gave it everything," Stoughton Coach Janet Sullivan said of her team's performance. "We just ran into a good Braintree team."

Sullivan added, "[We] had a huge crowd here tonight - Stoughton always comes out and supports their teams and I think they saw the kids giving it everything they had tonight."

Braintree coach Kristen McDonnell was in agreement.

"I give so much credit to Stoughton. They came ready to play. I thought our team did a good job gutting it out, especially in the second half," she said. 

"For us it's extremely important to play a game like this and get through it," McDonnell added. "We're very lucky to come out with a win. I think we battled. I'm proud of the kids for that."

Stoughton trailed by just four points, 19-15, following a McGrath three-pointer with 2:39 to go in the first half. After Braintree went on a mini-run, Emma Zuk hit a three-pointer with about 5 seconds left in the second, to make the deficit a manageable 26-19 at the half. 

The difference in the game was the third quarter. 

After a two-pointer from McGrath made it a 26-21 game 34 seconds into the third, Braintree went on a 13-1 run fueled by Molly Reagan and Bridget Herlihy, to put some distance between the two teams. 

"The difference in the third quarter was the boards," Sullivan said. "They started to dominate the boards. We knew when the game started if they dominated the boards they would be able to break on us. We had held them in check in the first half, but in the third quarter they controlled the boards, started fast breaking, built a bit of a lead." 

"Give these kids credit," Sullivan continued, "they fought back and got it to nine."

But Braintree outscored Stoughton 27-14 in the fourth quarter to cement the win. 

McGrath led Stoughton with 26 points (including six three-pointers) and had 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Daniels added 8 points and 11 rebounds; Zuk had 8 points and 3 assists; and Ashley Medeiros added 3 points and 4 rebounds.

Braintree was led by Herlihy, who had 28 points. Reagan had 14 points and Ashley Russell had 13.  

"We knew that Herlihy was going to be a factor. We didn't have the size or speed to match up with her," Sullivan said. "We put our best defensive specialist, Ashley Medeiros, on her. I thought she did an admirable job. We needed to double down a little bit better and give [Medeiros] more help and maybe that would have been the difference, but if we stop Herlihy, trust me, they have plenty of other great shooters on that team."

After a 13-loss season in 2010-2011, Stoughton has recorded back-to-back 13-win campaigns the past two seasons, picking up a total of 27 wins, including the postseason. This year's senior class - tri-captains Zuk, McGrath and Daniels, and Ariene Ohimor, Marlena Siegel and Megan Crimmins - played an instrumental role in this two-year run, which resulted in back-to-back tournament berths. 

The high school basketball careers for these six seniors came to an end Friday night. 

"I think this group just gelled," Sullivan said. "They really genuinely like each other. They play well together and that showed on the floor." 

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Photos in the media gallery by Justin Braga; Josh Brown contributed reporting.

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