Eagles Girls Basketball Beats Stoughton With Stellar Fourth Quarter

A glance at the score says an easy 44-34 win for the Sharon Eagles girls’ basketball team over the Stoughton Black Knights but the first three quarters say otherwise.

A tight contest for the first 24 minutes of the game, the Eagles took control of the final eight minutes with a defensive effort that saw Sharon give up only four points to the Black Knights in the final quarter.

The win gives the Eagles a record of 1-0 to start the season, while the Black Knights dropped to 0-2 on the season.

The Eagles snapped a slow start late in the first quarter when a 5-0 run put the Eagles up 11-6.

Drives to the basket by Andrea Bender (18 points) and Alyssa Pizza helped build the run but Stoughton’s Taitienna Tomas (seven points) only needed a basket and a hurl from half-court at the buzzer to tie the game at 11-11.

Despite the Black Knights having the lead for most of the second quarter and a six point lead with less than two minutes to play, Andrea Bender’s three pointer cut the lead in half with Kayla Motley’s basket on the next possession pushing the lead back up to five.

Sharon would go into the half down by one after Karlie O’Driscoll’s (14 points) put back on the miss by Bender and a quick basket by Elyssa Hoffman with 20 seconds to play in the second quarter.

After both sides exchanged the lead in the third quarter, the Eagles took a two point lead into the final quarter that they would not lose.

Baskets from Pizza and Bender pushed the lead to seven halfway though the quarter but Amy Kelly was able to cut the lead to five with two free throws with 1:20 left to play.

Free throws from Bender and Emma Blau would lock up the game for the Eagles as they picked up a win in their home opener.