Girls' basketball: Winthrop stuns St. Dom's

WINTHROP - It has been a season of near-misses and could-have-been's.

Many nights this winter, the Winthrop girls' basketball team watched games slip from its grasp. There would always be something that would derail the Rambler's efforts and ultimately lead to another disappointing defeat. Monday night, Winthrop wasn't going to be denied. The Ramblers thwarted a comeback attempt by St. Dom's  for an impressive 51-38 victory.

"We've done that all year long," said Winthrop coach Ray Convery."What happens is we've faltered in the second half. We're not real deep. We miss too many free throws or too much of this. We have a chance to win, and we don't win it when we can and tonight we did."

Kelsey Ouellette led the charge with a career-high 29 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter and 19 in the second half.

"I didn't feel like I scored that much because I missed some foul shots," said Ouellette, a senior forward. "I felt like I stepped up and made my layups."

Ouellette was not the lone standout for the Ramblers, which needed the win to keep their Western C tourney hopes alive. Kelsey Nason added nine points, seven in the fourth quarter. Nikki Scott and Sarah Warner were tenacious defensively while Michelle Lough was outstanding shadowing St. Dom's Allaina Murphy, who led the Saints with 28 points.  The Ramblers also got offensive contributions from Alex Veilleux, Katie Michelsen and Jessica Scott.

"The whole team stepped up," said Ouellette. "That's what was most exciting about it. Everyone was playing a vital role."

Winthrop led for most of the game, but the Saints (9-6) tied the game on a three-point play to start the fourth. The Ramblers (7-8) answered with seven straight points. Nason scored on a leaner. Ouellette drove for a basket, and Nason added a three-point play, set up by a nifty pass by Scott.

"She thought about what she had to do and made a strong move to the basket and it went in," said Ouellette of Nason. "Nikki made some awesome passes. Everyone was thinking before we just threw it  or just threw it into the basket. That's what we've been working on."

The Saints were plagued by nearly 30 turnovers, including seven in the fourth quarter. St. Dom's, ranked sixth in Western C, also didn't have great shot selection down the stretch, going 4-for-17 from the floor. With Murphy, Morgan Brown and Elise Applegate all nursing foul trouble, the Saints struggled to get on a roll. A fast break hoop by Applegate and a jumper by Julia Richardson, who had five key second half points, got the Saints within 39-36 with 3:06 left.

Winthrop burst the Saints' bubble with five straight and a 12-2 surge to finish the game. Ouellette scored on a fast break, set up by a nice Lough defensive rebound. Ouellette added a bucket of a press breaker, and Warner added a free throw to bump the lead back up to 44-36. The Ramblers finished with seven straight. Ouellette set up Nason for a hoop and then scored on a free throw, a steal and a fast break.

"We kept our composure, " said Convery, whose team was ranked 14th in Western C and will still likely need two big wins down the stretch to make the tourney. "We started losing it a little bit, but the kids did a great job on Murphy. We had someone coming from different sides of her all night long. Michelle Lough is only 5-foot-5 and she did a great job."

Winthrop started strong and built a seven-point lead in the second quarter, but turnovers and missed shots eventually caught up with the Ramblers. St. Dom's was within one at the half and took the lead early in the third. Ouellette scored three times, and Scott set up Lough for a score during an 8-0 run that built a 28-22 lead.

"We thought we could beat them," said Ouellette, whose team lost to St. Dom's, 53-39, earlier in the year. "We just wanted to work hard the whole game. We did that and defensively we did really step up."