Foxborough Girls’ Basketball to Open MIAA D2 South Sectional State Tournament Wednesday vs. Holliston

UPDATE (Feb. 22, 1:09 p.m.) - Foxborough's opening round game against Holliston will be played on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at Foxborough High School.

The Foxborough High School girls’ basketball team will host its opening round game against Holliston next week in the MIAA Division 2 South Sectional State Tournament.

Winners of seven out of their last eight, the Warriors (15-5) earned the eighth seed in the MIAA D2 South Sectional State Tournament and will host Holliston Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.

This is Foxborough's fifth state tournament appearance over the past six seasons but first for Foxborough’s second-year head coach Lisa Downs, who has plenty of postseason experience as a player.

"When I used to play here many years ago we used to qualify routinely and that’s just not the case here anymore,” Downs said. “The girls worked very hard [to qualify for the state tournament]."

After ending the regular season with a 46-30 win over Canton on Senior Night, Foxborough swept the Warrior Winter Classic tournament with wins over Lunenburg (85-37) and Hopkinton (48-41). Downs said Tuesday’s win over the Hillers was exactly the type of game – and competition – she expects the Warriors to face in the postseason.

“We are going to be facing quality teams like that in the state tournament and [Tuesday] was a testament to what we can do,” Downs said. “Hopkinton is a great team and I knew it was going to be a very physical game, a high-tempo game, which bodes well for us because we like up-tempo."

Downs is right as Holliston beat two Hockomock League teams this week to win the Sharon Basketball Classic and improve its season record to 14-6.

The Panthers beat Stoughton – a team Foxborough lost to twice in the regular season – 52-50 on a Stephanie Berard buzzer-beater with no time remaining. Two days later, Holliston knocked off Sharon, 52-39 to win the Sharon Basketball Classic.

Foxborough took Wednesday off but returned to the gym Thursday to study film and self-assess in advance of Friday's state tournament announcement by the MIAA.

"We’ve played very well at certain points of the season but we’ve also demonstrated that we have some weaknesses that we need to work on but the way [we] have continued building in the last week or two is huge for us,” Downs said.

The winner of Wednesday's Foxborough-Holliston game will face the winner of Oliver Ames and either Notre Dame Academy or Plymouth North on March 1. OA was perfect in the Hockomock League this season, defeating Foxborough twice. The Tigers' only loss of the season came against Medfield in this week's Rebel Classic championship game at Walpole High School.

Here's a Look at the D2 South Seedings:

1. Oliver Ames (19-1) - won coin toss over Medfield
2. Medfield (19-1)
3. O'Bryant (18-1)
4. Duxbury (18-2)
5. Fontbonne (18-2)
6. Scituate (17-3)
7. Bishop Feehan (16-4)
8. FOXBOROUGH (15-5)
9. Holliston (14-6)
10. Walpole (13-7)
11. Falmouth (13-7)
12. Sharon (13-7)
13. Hopkinton (13-8)
14. Somerset Berkley (11-7)
15. Sandwich (10-9)
16. Notre Dame Academy (10-10)
17. Plymouth North (10-10)