It is still very, very early in the season, but the Stoughton High girls' basketball team was facing a big game in their third game of the season.
After losing to Attleboro and Sharon on the road, the last thing the Black Knights wanted to was take an 0-3 record in Christmas vacation and fall to 0-3 in Hockomock League's Davenport Division.
With a strong performance from start to finish, the Black Knights avoid that with a 62-36, improving to 1-2 on the season.
"It was huge," said Stoughton head coach Janet Sullivan. "We lost our opener and didn't play well. Against Sharon, we played well for three quarters and just ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. We played well and we knew we had something here.
"It was important to go into the break with a win under our belts."
LeiAndra Bushy was the top score with 15, Kayla Motley had 12 points, while Alecia Quinones finished with 11. Milford's Celina Jones scored 11 points to lead the Hawks.
The Hawks won the junior varsity game, 45-38, over Stoughton.
In the first quarter, Quinones had 3 three-pointers in the first quarter as the Black Knights jumped out to an 18-8 lead.
The Stoughton Black Knights increased their lead to 31-20 at the half. Motley had four points in the quarter. Jess Pye was Milford's top scorer with eight in the first half.
The Black Knight defense was able to hold the Hawks to just three points in the third quarter, going a 14-0 run to take a 53-23 lead into the fourth quarter.
"We had great team intensity," said Sullivan. "Our offense was clearly sparked from our defense. We ran several pressure defenses which I thought the kids worked real well . We still need to do a better job with offensive sets.
"What I liked was everyone contributed."
Starting varsity lineups: Milford-Celina Jones, Jess Pye, Gabby Asam, Jill Powers, Liuzdali Ocasio.
Stoughton-LiAndra Busby, Ashley Medeiros, Taintienna Thomas, Alecia Quinones, Kayla Motley
The Hawks won the junior varsity game, 45-38, over Stoughton.
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