Photos Available @ John McKenna Photography

Wamogo's Kerri Stolle, top, and Meagan Murray handle the ball in Thursday's Class S tournament victory over Canton.

Clutch play when it counted most has landed Wamogo's girls basketball team a spot in the quarterfinals of the Class S tournament.

The Warriors nailed five free throws in the last 42 seconds to pull out an exhilarating 48-46 home-court victory over Canton on Thursday.

Wamogo moves on to play St. Paul-Bristol next Thursday at a site to be determined. St. Paul defeated Terryville 53-35 last night.

Caycee Williams, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds, was huge in the end for the Warriors. First, she converted a three-point play to give Wamogo a 43-40 lead with 3:04 left, and after Canton scored four straight points to regain the lead, made two free throws to put her team up for good, 45-44, with 42 seconds left.

Wamogo rode Williams from start to finish, delivering the ball to her in the lane time after time. Kerri Stolle followed Williams to the free-throw line with 26 seconds left and coolly sank both ends of a one-and-one to make it 47-44. Megan Layman added one more free throw with 12 seconds left to give Wamogo its final point.

The Warriors got off to a quick start, taking a 12-3 lead and looking ready to win big. But Canton fired back with a 16-0 run before settling for a 23-21 advantage at halftime.

Williams was a major factor in the third quarter with her presence alone. She scored four points in the period, but made some nice passes to set up Morgan Grambo and Paige LaBonne for baskets. LaBonne's second hoop of the quarter evened the count at 35-35 heading into the final period.

"Caycee was phenomenal in the second half," Wamogo coach Kevin Crowley said. "We want her to touch the ball on every possession, because when she does, good things happen."

Stolle, the focus of Canton's defense all night, had nine points, eight rebounds and four assists and worked with Meagan Murray to break full-court pressure.

"Kerri did what she could against the pressure and our other guys did their jobs," Crowley said.

LaBonne finished with 11 points and Grambo six off the bench.

Photos Available @ John McKenna Photography

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