Follow Watertown Girls Basketball Live From the Garden in the State Semi

The Watertown girls basketball team celebrates after winning the North Section championship by beating Belmont.

For the second year in a row, the Watertown High School girls basketball team will play under the bright lights of the TD Garden, but they face a team that has been there a few times themselves. 

The Raiders (20-3) hope the second time is a charm in the state semifinal (a.k.a. the EMass final).

“We went last year,” said Watertown junior center Shannon Murphy. “We lost to Duxbury last year, so we are very excited to go back.”

The South Section Champions Oliver Ames (21-3) has won two state championships (2006 and 2010) under head coach Elaine Clement-Holbrook, who has 645 wins in her 40 seasons at the Easton campus.

Follow the action here live from Boston. Tip off is scheduled for 5:45 p.m.

Game over – Watertown wins 48-34. Heading to Springfield for the state final Saturday!

32 seconds left fourth – Rourke dishes to Murphy for 2. 48-34 Watertown, Murphy has 20.

1:09 left fourth – Antonellis fouled. Makes both, 46-34 Watertown.

1:27 left fourth – Murphy fouled on defensive end. Makes first misses second, 44-34 Watertown. Raiders get rebound.

1:29 left fourth – OA’s McCarthy fouled. Makes first, misses second, 43-34 Watertown

2:30 left fourth – Antonellis fouled. Hits both free throws, 43-33 Watertown.

2:56 left fourth – Rourke fouls. Misses front end of 1-and-1.

3:59 left fourth – Korte lays it in for 2. 41-33 Watertown.

4:37 left fourth – Korte fouled on a drive. Misses first. Time out Oliver Ames. Misses second.

5:03 left fourth – Murphy grabs an offensive rebound and puts it in for 2. 39-33 Watertown.

5:42 left fourth – Korte hits a 3. Watertown up 37-33.

7:37 left fourth – Antonellis hits short jumper to put Watertown up 34-33.

End of third – Oliver Ames leads 33-32. Outscored Watertown 19-11 that quarter.

45.7 left third – Murphy gets ball inside, scores and is fouled. Misses free throw. Oliver Ames up 33-32

1:39 left third – Bamford fouled on a drive. Makes both. 33-30 OA

1:47 left third – Watertown coach Pat Ferdinand calls timeout after the Raiders turn the ball over for taking too much time to inbound. Still 31-30 Oliver Ames.

2:12 left third – Calabraro hits a 3. OA up 31-30

2:51 left third – Raymond gets lay up for OA. 30-28 Watertown.

3:25 left third – Calabraro gets another steal and basket. 30-26 Watertown.

4:42 left third – Raymond lays it in for 2 for OA. Then Hannah McMahon gets a pass and lays it up for 2.  30-24 Watertown

5:04 left third – Murphy scores and is fouled. Makes free throw. Watertown up 28-22.

5:28 left third – Antonellis drives for 2. 25-22 Watertown

5:46 left third – Kayla Raymond scored 2 for Oliver Ames, is fouled and makes the shot. 23-22 Watertown.

6:25 left third – Francesca Calabraro steals it and goes in for a layup. 23-19 Watertown.

7:40 left third – Korte gets her own rebound and scores 2. Watertown up 23-14. Samantha Bamford responds with a 3. 23-17 Watertown

Halftime – Leading scorers for Watertown: Shannon Murphy 10, Felicia Korte 4, Katelyn Rourke 4, Michaela Antonellis 3.

0 left second – Murphy blocks a shot as the half ends.

18.4 left second – Oliver Ames scores, then Murphy fouled on the other end. Makes both. Watertown up 21-14.

1:03 left second – Rourke fouled. Makes both, Watertown up 19-12

1:34 left second – Antonellis misses front end of one-and-one.

1:34 left second – Time out Oliver Ames. Watertown on a 9-0 run. They have done it largely without starting guard Nicole Lanzo, who has been on the bench for most of the half.

1:54 left second – Murphy lays it in for a 17-12 Watertown lead.

2:43 left second – Rourke goes to the line after a foul. Makes both 15-12 Watertown

3:20 left second – Murphy lays it in. Gives Watertown a 13-12 lead.

4:25 left second – Murphy gets a blocked shot.

4:52 left second – Katelyn Rourke fouled. Misses both, but Korte gets rebound and is fouled. Misses both. Still 12-11 OA.

5:22 left second – Antonellis dishes to Murphy for 2. 12-11 OA.

5:49 left second – Korte fouled. Hits first, misses second free throw. 12-9 OA

6:24 left second – Reardon fouled for OA. Hits both free throws. 12-8 Oliver Ames.

6:47 left second – Korte fouled. Misses first free throw, hits second. 10-8 OA.

7:28 left second – Abigail Reardon scores 2 for Oliver Ames. Up 10-7.

35 seconds left first – Felicia Korte drives for 2. Watertown up 7-5. But Kaitlyn McCarthy hits a three for Oliver Ames to take a 8-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

1:03 left first – Antonellis fouled. Misses first free throw, makes second to tie game at 5.

1:27 left first – Shannon Murphy drives the lane and scores 2. 5-4 Oliver Ames.

2:50 left first – Michaela Antonellis hits Watertown’s first basket. 5-2 OA.

3:08 left first – Hannah Carroll hits a three for Oliver Ames. Now lead Watertown 5-0. Time out Watertown.

5 mins. left first – Shannon Murphy fouled while shooting. Misses both free throws. Still 2-0

6:14 left first. Slow start for Watertown. 0-5 shooting. Still Oliver Ames 2-0

7:24 left first. Oliver Ames scores first. Up 2-0.

5:40 p.m. – The Raiders are warming up. The game should start in about 5 minutes.

Raiders’ Run

Watertown (20-3) defended its North Section title Saturday by defeating Belmont 46-41. The Raiders beat Triton 43-29 in the section semi, after winning the quarterfinal over Danvers 52-33.

Murphy is the focus of the Raiders’ offense. She averages 12.3 points a game in the tournament, including 16 points against Triton in the section semifinal. Senior forward Felicia Korte has averaged 11 points in tournament games and lead the team with 16 against Danvers in the section quarter.

Close behind is senior forward Katelyn Rourke, who has 9.3 points per game in the postseason and she tied Murphy as top scorer with 12 against Belmont. Watertown’s other starters have contributed, too, with senior shooting guard Nicole Lanzo scoring nine against Belmont and senior point guard Michaela Antonellis scoring eight against Danvers and seven against Triton.

Watertown Head Coach Patrick Ferdinand said he remembers the current seniors sitting in the stands watching the Raiders varsity team when they were in middle school, and now are in position to lead the team themselves.

“Watching them grow up as individuals and teammates has been really cool,” Ferdinand said. “When we went up to Pentucket (in the state tournament) and got smacked. A lot of the kids went up there to see that. To look out to see these kids who might want to come up here, and wear that uniform and try to put a banner up – it’s kind of cool to think they were in that spot years ago.”

Tigers’ Tale

Oliver Ames, the second seed in the south, had to win some nail biters to get to the state semifinal. The Tigers’ tournament almost ended in the first round, but they prevailed over North Attleboro when sophomore forward Kayla Raymond hit a shot with 1.8 seconds left for the 47-46 victory. Niyera Mitchell lead Oliver Ames with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The Tigers then defeated Notre Dame Academy 58-49, with junior guard Francesca Calabero and Raymond each scoring 18 points. Senior Kaitlyn McCarthy scored 17 and Raymond had 12 points and 9 rebounds in Oliver Ames’ 56-40 win over Falmouth in the section semi.

The South Section final was a low scoring affair, with the Tigers pulling it out 34-33 over Hingham on Saturday. Sophomore guard Haley Blasetti lead the team with 14 points and Raymond scored eight and grabbed 11 rebounds.

The winner of Tuesday’s semifinal will play in the state final in Springfield on Saturday, March 19 against Longmeadow – 51-41 victors over Notre Dame of Worcester on Monday night.