WALES — When Sadie Goulet drilled a 3 to open the fourth quarter Friday, it sent a message —  not only to Oak Hill’s opponent but to the Raiders themselves.

“That brought our intensity up,” said Goulet. “It was awesome.”

That shot tied the game and completed the Raiders’ rally that erased a 15-point deficit. Oak Hill then used a strong final quarter to finish off St. Dom’s for a 43-33 win.

The Saints (9-2) are ranked first in Western C and the win bumped Oak Hill (7-3) up to fifth in Western B.

“This is a huge win,” Goulet said. “We were hoping for this in practice. We planned for it. It’s an amazing win.”

St. Dom’s had already beaten Madison in double overtime Tuesday and had to fend off Mountain Valley in overtime Thursday. When the Raiders gave the Saints a challenge in the fourth, St. Dom’s had little steam left.

“We obviously had more energy in the first half,” said St. Dom’s coach Jon Berry. “We’ve had a long week, and we don’t have a lot of girls. I think we ran out of steam. We had some breaks that didn’t go our way, and they started making some tough shots.”

The Saints were held to just one field goal in the fourth, shooting 1-for-9. That meant St. Dom’s had just one field goal in the final 11:52.

“It didn’t hurt that we pressed and pressed,” said Oak Hill coach Tom Morong, who typically uses nine or 10 players per game while St. Dom’s has six. “We knew they had an overtime game last night. They played two tough games this week and they were going to have a third one.”

Brianna Mulherin led the Raiders with 13 points, including five in the final quarter. Goulet had nine while Kelsey Collins had eight. St. Dom’s got 13 from Kelly Pomerleau. Faith Grady had eight and Callie Greco added seven.

“We’ve got kids with big hearts and we have good players,” Berry said. “We just go out and do what we can. Tonight we got outscored by a good team. I thought we played OK, and we ran out of legs. I didn’t have a problem with how we played tonight.”

The Saints dictated play early on and built a 12-4 lead in the first quarter and had that deficit up to 19-4 in the second after a 3 by Chole Dwinell. Pomerleau had eight points in the first half while Grady had seven.

The Raiders missed its first 12 shots of the second quarter and finished 1-for-15 in the quarter and just 3-for-25 in the half.  St. Dom’s appeared to be in control with a 19-8 lead at the half.

“During halftime, we went in and talked,” Goulet said. “Coach Morong said that how we played in the first half was going to determine the rest of the game. He said the first half wasn’t going to cut it. We pick it up in the second half.”

The Raiders surged in the third quarter with a 10-2 run to open the third. That got Oak Hill within 21-18, but the Saints answered with a three-point play by Greco, a steal by Pomerleau and free throws by Alexis Dwinell and Grady. That built the lead back to 28-18, but the Raiders rallied with a basket by Jamie Prue, a 3 from Goulet and free throws by Meagan Crosby to get within 28-25.

“At halftime, I told them to just go out and play,” said Morong, noting that the team was too focused on what St. Dom’s was trying to do in the first half instead of executing themselves. “They seemed to respond.”

After Goulet’s 3 tied the game to start the fourth, Pomerleau scored on a drive with 7:16 left. It was the last field goal from the Saints in the game.

Collins tied the game with a basket in the post. Then Hayley Marshall scored a pair to give Oak Hill the lead. A Goulet drive made it 36-30 with 2:48 left.

“We usually play at least nine players,” Morong said. “Whether it’s a close game or a blowout, as a coach, I have to stay consistent with that and trust. It’s starting to payoff. That trust in these kids is starting to playoff because it seems like it’s always somebody different.”

St. Dom’s got two free throws from Greco to make it 36-32, but the Raiders finished off the win with seven straight points. Mulherin had five points during that stretch and Collins hit a corner jumper.

“The talk at halftime got us really excited to play,” Goulet said. “We got upset and brought it to the game.”

Collins did a superb job in the post, taking away the Saints inside attack. Danielle Samson and Marshall did a nice job making Pomerleau work and holding her to just five points in the second half.

“Those two are really quick,” Morong said. “She probably doesn’t face quickness like that every night.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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