Watertown Upsets St. Mary's in the Girls' Basketball Tournament

[Updated March 7 at 10 a.m.]

Clutch shooting down the stretch propelled the Raiders past girls' basketball power St. Mary's of Lynn Tuesday night and into the North Section finals of the MIAA Div. 3 tournament.

Watertown (13-10) came in as the 11th seed, but defeated girls' basketball second seeded St. Mary's (21-3) 61-60 at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in the section semifinal. The Spartans won the state title two years ago.

Watertown Coach Patrick Ferdinand told the Lynn Daily Item that his team did not back down against the odds. 

"Nobody gave us that much of a chance, I heard, against this team, but we came out with heart. We had a lot of heart," Ferdinand told the Daily Item.

The Raiders trailed 31-23 at halftime and entered the fourth quarter down by 11 points, according to a report in the Lynn Daily Item. 

Watertown rallied, and Rachel Campbell hit a shot with 39 seconds left to give the Raiders a 60-57 lead. St. Mary's was not done yet, and Sharell Sanders made a three-pointer to tie the game with 16.7 seconds left, according to the report.

Raiders junior Gabriella Coppola got the ball late and was fouled on a drive to the hoop with 7.3 seconds left. She missed the first free throw, but sank the second to give Watertown the victory, according to the report.

The Raiders will play in the North Section final Saturday at 2 p.m. at Lowell's Tsongas Arena. Watertown faces Pentucket (24-1), which beat Ipswich on Wednesday night.