BRIDGEWATER – In a battle between two of the top 10 girls basketball programs in the state, Bridgewater-Raynham ran out of gas late against a potent squad from St. Mary’s of Lynn.

With a 48-46 lead, the Spartans hit a crucial triple as sophomore Bella Owumi found senior Juliana Conte for her lone made basket to push the lead out to 51-46 with 48.8 seconds left as St. Mary’s topped the Trojans on the road 55-48.

“It was a huge make,” said Spartans coach Jeff Newhall about what he called the shot of the game. “Another positive is that Bella doesn’t play like that quite often, if at all. So, hopefully we got that one out of the way. But, key spot, Bella attacks the zone, draws them in, flips it to the corner for a wide-open three and then of course Julianna makes it.”

After a slow first half, Bridgewater-Raynham, (5-2) came out with a strong push on the offensive side in the third and outscored St. Mary’s (8-1) 18-8 in the frame with eight of the 10 second-half points for senior Jenna Micciantuono coming in the frame. Senior captain Brenna Woodbury added a triple as the horn sounded to end the quarter to make it a 41-35 hole after three.

Bridgewater-Raynham’s Brenna Woodbury (12) climbs on the back of St. Mary’s star Bella Owumi (11) during the second half of a 55-48 win by St. Mary’s. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

“Brenna faced adversity of getting trapped from multiple players the entire game, so for her to be able to just let that one fly and I swore that gave her and the team a huge energy boost,” said Trojans coach Cheryl Seavey.

In the fourth, the Trojans continued their run as it went 24-11 to make it a 44-41 deficit before eventually cutting it to 48-46 with a Woodbury (nine points) layup, but after a couple game-tying shots were short, the Spartans put the game away from the free throw line.

“Give them credit,” said Newhall about being about to come away with the win. “(Bridgewater-Raynham) is a very good program. We made some mistakes, but certainly they hit some shots to capitalize on it.”

In the first half, it was the defensive pressure not only in the half court, but also in a full court press implemented after the Spartans started off slow on the offensive end. This pressure led to four straight points to go up 4-2 and they never looked back to go up 19-9 after one with Owumi netting all eight of her first half points. Owumi finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and five steals.

“We weren’t getting the pace that we would like to get and it’s a big court,” Newhall said about switching to the full court press. “We got them out of sync on offense and they weren’t, quite frankly, hitting the shots that they hit in the second half.”

From there, it was senior Reese Matela who took over with seven of her team-high 11 first-half points with many of those coming in the paint as St. Mary’s led 33-17 at the half. She finished with 15 points on the evening.

Bridgewater-Raynham’s Lila Polansky (5) collides with Bella Owumi of St. Mary’s during girls basketball action. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

For Bridgewater Raynham, junior Camden Strandberg was the lone player to really solve the Spartans’ defense as she scored 15 of the first 17 points for the Trojans. She finished with 21, eight boards and five assists.