Lady Rockets Punch Ticket to State Title Game in Thrilling Fashion

Two undefeated teams. One State Championship berth. This one was always going to be a classic.

The girls basketball team outlasted the Lady Sailors of Scituate in what has got to be one of the ever played on the parquet floor of TD Garden, earning a 71-64 overtime win and sealing a spot in the MIAA Division II State Championship Game.

The Lady Rockets (24-0) will face either Palmer or Tyngsboro on Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester for the right to call themselves the best in Massachusetts. The game time is still TBA.

Reading trailed by as many as 13 points as late as the beginning of the third quarter, but battled all the way back with a ferocious full-court press and some clutch shooting to take a slight lead in the waning moments of regulation.

But Scituate’s lethal center, Shannon Brady, picked up two of her 28 points as the clock ticked down to zero, sending the game to overtime tied at 59 apiece.

In extra time, the Lady Rockets would not be denied, and outscored the Lady Sailors 12-5 to seal victory in the epic contest. Fittingly, it was senior Katie Clements, whose 3-point shooting has been so good as of late, that plunged the dagger into the side of the Lady Sailors with a trey with 2:20 remaining in the extra frame, giving the Lady Rockets a 66-61 lead.

Clements also drilled a 3-pointer late in the fourth to give Reading its first lead, 52-51. Those were her only points. Talk about clutch.

In a game with more plot twists than a bestselling novel, it will be a long time before any of the participants forget about this one.

“Maybe a year from now, maybe even a month from now, they will realize they were in one of the greatest games, probably ever witnessed in girls basketball at this Boston Garden,” said Scituate (24-1) head coach Brian Buckley. “I’ve seen a lot of games, and there aren’t too many when you tie the game to go into overtime with two seconds left ... That’s what dreams are made of.”

Those dreams will be sweet ones for the Lady Rockets.

“It feels amazing; we are speechless,” said a jubilant Olivia Healy, who dropped 22 points on Scituate despite playing nearly the entire second half with four fouls. “We are crying, but they are tears of laughter and joy. This feels amazing, to finally get here and to keep going on Saturday. We are not done yet.”

The game was truly a tale of two halves, as in the early going, it seemed as though nothing would go in the Lady Rockets favor. Their free-throws would not fall, and solving the presence of Brady underneath was proving to be a mighty steep hill indeed. Brady also snatched 14 rebounds on the night.

“She’s awesome. We were trying to double her,” said Penney of the challenges posed by a player like Brady. “We were trying to have someone in front of her and someone behind her. She has a great hookshot, so even if you play behind her she doesn’t really square up because she hooks it in. She moves so well without the ball, she’s very hard to guard.”

Trailing 31-22 at the half, Reading High head coach Kim Penney was not at all pleased with her team’s defensive output. She kept her halftime comments short and to the point.

“I told them this is it,” she said. “I told the seniors ‘this is the last basketball you will ever play if you don’t start playing defense.’ I didn’t like our first half defense ... We weren’t being aggressive, we weren’t dictating the pace, they were.”

The Lady Rockets responded slowly at first, but 3-pointers from Healy and Morgan O’Brien—who was on fire in the second half and finished with 33 points to lead all scorers—on consecutive trips down the floor breathed new life into the squad. O’Brien dropped 27 points in the second half, including six in the overtime.

“Morgan was the rock,” said Healy. “Mentally, physically ... everything. She was just awesome. Her shot is the best shot you will ever find.”

It was an unusually cold night at the free throw line for Reading early, as they collectively went 3-for-10 from the line during the first half—O’Brien was 1-for-4—but down the stretch, when it mattered most, O’Brien and her teammates got it done, shooting a much improved 16-for-24 from the charity stripe during the second half.

“Morgan is awesome. Morgan has been steady for us all year,” said Penney. “She can do so much for us ... her free throws, she’s almost 90 percent from the line ... for her to miss tonight was kind of weird, but when it counted the most, she got it done ... that’s why we called a timeout and said get the ball in Morgan’s hands ... they are going to foul us to stop the clock. We wanted her at the line, she wanted to be at the line. That’s a leader. She did a great job.”

After Healy picked up her fourth foul, she was no longer able to safely guard Brady, for fear her aggressive style of play would lead her to an early exit, as it had against . O’Brien would assume the unenviable task of guarding the dangerous center for the rest of the game.

According to Penney, the decision to rotate in such a fashion was not hers or that of her staff.

“[Healy’s] job tonight was to front Brady,” Penney explained. “So she wasn’t used to being in the paint and hanging out, she likes to go go go ... So it was a different defense she had to play and she stepped up and played the team defense we wanted to play... We did switch it after she got her fourth foul. Morgan switched with her ... that was Morgan’s call. She came over to us and said ‘coach I think we should switch. [Olivia] has four fouls, I’ll go front Brady and she can play [Megan Otto].’ I was like: ‘good idea.’”

The results speak for themselves.

The Lady Rockets are one win away from high school basketball immortality.