STATE CHAMPS (Boston Globe)

DUXBURY 51, MEDFIELD 42

Duxbury caps undefeated season with Division 2 girls’ basketball championship

WINSLOW TOWNSON FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Duxbury's Emma Gil (23) and Catherine Harrison (32) race to teammate Jacqueline Sullivan after they defeated Medfield.

By Michelle FenelonGLOBE CORRESPONDENT  MARCH 14, 2015

WORCESTER — In 1998, Robert Sullivan was on the basketball court in Worcester when he watched his daughter, Hilary Cross, win a state title with Duxbury.

Sullivan was Duxbury’s junior varsity coach at the time, but to watch his daughter become a champion was special.

Seventeen years later, Sullivan walked onto the same court as a head coach, capturing his own state title as Duxbury defeated Medfield, 51-42, in the Division 2 girls’ final at the DCU Center.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect season. Duxbury (26-0) is 51-1 over the last two seasons.

“I did mention that at the pregame . . . and I told the girls we’re going to do exactly what we did the first 25 games,” said Sullivan.

Duxbury, which had a clear height advantage, struggled to take charge in the first quarter with its inside game. Medfield (18-6) managed to clog the paint with its 3-2 zone, overplaying Duxbury’s bigs in the first half, and daring the Dragons to take jump shots.

Duxbury didn’t score its first field goal until the 3:30 mark of the first quarter, when Madeline Foote (11 points) hit her first of three 3-pointers in the first half to give the Dragons a 5-3 lead.

Medfield couldn’t contain Duxbury’s size for long.

“Well, they come out in a 3-2 zone and the shots were there,” Sullivan said. “And we do have an inside-outside game and we took what the defense [gave] us. And when they went man-to-man, we pounded inside.”

After scoring only 3 points in the first half, Catherine Harrison (15 points) helped Duxbury build on its 24-20 halftime lead with 4 consecutive points to start the third quarter.

“I challenged her at halftime and I said, ‘Cat, come on.’ We have a term, ‘earn your spot down there’ — I tell the kids don’t pass her the ball if she doesn’t earn that right to get that ball. And I think you saw her do that in the second half,” Sullivan said.

Although Payton Ouimette (22 points) made two free throws to cut Duxbury’s lead to 2 with 1:43 remaining in the third, Medfield got no closer.

With Duxbury holding a 5-point lead through three quarters, Harrison again scored 4 straight points, this time to start the fourth.

Harrison said her mind-set in the second half was to “just work on my position, just take everything I can, take everything I can get, and do what I can to help my teammates win.”