Great Scott! Late basket lifts Wachusett in thriller

DIV. 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL FINAL

Mountaineers escape Bishop Feehan, 55-54

Wachusett celebrates at the Tsongas Center in Lowell after a thrilling 55-54 victory over Bishop Feehan in the Div. 1 girls basketball state title game. STAFF PHOTO BY STUART CAHILL — BOSTON HERALD

Wachusett’s Caroline Mahoney drives around Bishop Feehan’s Charlotte Adams-Lopez during the Div. 1 state title game. STAFF PHOTO BY STUART CAHILL — BOSTON HERALD

Image

By Jason Cooke

Correspondent

LOWELL >> Jim Oxford’s message was simple.

After Bishop Feehan took a one-point lead in Saturday’s Div. 1 girls basketball state championship game at the Tsongas Center, Wachusett had 16.7 seconds to formulate a winning play. If they didn’t, the Mountaineers would leave the tunnel the same way they did a year ago to the day — on the losing end of a title at the hands of Bishop Feehan.

Oxford didn’t think twice about the crucial play call. It wouldn’t have been anyone else than Jaelynn Scott to get the ball with the season on the brink.

“I just said run that ball screen, get the ball in her hands and you do what you do. That was it,” Oxford said.

Scott had already torched No. 2 Bishop Feehan for 29 points in Saturday’s thriller. She surely had one more timely bucket in her.

As the clock reached five seconds, the junior split a pair of defenders en route to a right-handed layup to provide No. 1 Wachusett with a 55-54 lead that would stand when the buzzer sounded to exercise the Mountaineers’ demons from last March.

“They got me the ball, I looked and there was only five seconds left, and I saw an opening so I took the layup. It felt great,” Scott said.

Wachusett (24-1), which graduated seven seniors following the conclusion of last season’s heartbreaker, claimed its first state title in history with the win in only its second appearance to halt Bishop Feehan (23-3) from consecutive crowns.

Teegan Lanpher added 13 points for Wachusett to support Scott’s dominant 31-point effort.

Adding eight points in the first quarter to set the tone in the Mill City, Scott scored in the paint with ease while owning the glass. Her rebound with 51 seconds left in the third eventually yielded a layup through contact that brought her to the charity stripe to provide Wachusett with a lead into the fourth.

“She does stuff weekly that I’ve just never seen,” Oxford said. “And I’ve coached an NCAA champion and I’ve coached probably 100 scholarship kids. The stuff this kid does is unbelievable athletically … she’s amazing.”

If it weren’t for Scott’s heroics, Wachusett would have retreated to the bowels of the Tsongas Center similar to last season.

Mollie Mullen (14 points) and Charlotte Adams-Lopez (13 points) led a highly capable Bishop Feehan offense that accounted for 12 3-pointers — including a timely side-step trey by Mullen with 1:21 left to give Bishop Feehan a 54-53 edge.

The Shamrocks sunk six triples in the second frame, including three from Lily Singer, to establish that prowess from deep.

But nothing could overcome Wachusett’s desire to raise the trophy. When Scott’s driving lay-in fell, the roar that exploded from the Mountaineer student section was a year in the making.

“Knowing that we got to rematch them again, it fueled us up a lot — because we didn’t want to feel the way we felt last year. It feels amazing,” Scott said.