Waterford — There were times Waterford was too big. The Lancers' combination of post players tormented their opponents in the third quarter, allowing them to take a 12-point lead with first place in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II on the line.

Then there were times Stonington was too fast. Kate Hall, the Class M 100-meter state champion during track season last spring, was wearing out a path to the basket and also doing her best Diana Taurasi impersonation. Hall hit a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left in the first half to break a tie and with 47 seconds left in the game to force one.

Waterford was up 12, 58-46 with 2:43 remaining. Then, suddenly, the Lancers' Kayla Jean-Pierre, one of the aforementioned posts, was standing at the free throw line needing to make a shot for the win.

The Waterford High School girls’ basketball team, finally, was the last one standing Thursday night, edging Stonington 61-59 for sole possession of first place in Division II. Stonington, winners of five straight headed into the matchup, could have forced a three-way tie for first between Waterford, Stonington and Bacon Academy with a victory.

“I felt confident,” Jean-Pierre, who finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, said of standing on the foul line with 24.8 seconds left, the score tied at 58. “My coach is confident in me. I just tried to think about the ball going in the basket.

“(Stonington) is a scrappy team. They hustle. It’s tough to slow the game down.”

Rebekah Sanders had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Waterford (11-4, 6-1) and Julianna Bonilla had six points, four in the third quarter when the Lancers outscored Stonington 18-5 to take a double-figure lead at 44-34. Mia Brennan added 12 points.

Waterford coach Mark Capasso sought out Stonington’s Hall not once, but twice to compliment her, the second time telling her it was the best performance he’s seen this season. The dynamic Hall finished with 19 points and four steals.

Kate Johnson had 18 points for Stonington (12-5, 6-3). Cam Dreher had 10 points and 15 rebounds, Miranda Arruda had nine points and guarded Waterford’s Brennan and Aliza Bell added 11 rebounds.

Tied at 58 on Hall's late 3, Jean-Pierre hit one of two free throws for a 59-58 lead. Jean-Pierre made another from the foul line with 12.4 seconds left for a 60-58 lead and Johnson hit one from the line for Stonington to pull back within 60-59. Ashley Goldstein hit the last foul shot for Waterford with the clock reading .1.

"We made a couple decisions where we took shots too quickly,” said Capasso of the stretch run, when he tried desperately to slow Stonington from seemingly knifing down the court and scoring at will. "Every single time we went to a zone, they knocked down big shots.

“… A lot of kids made big plays at the end. Kate Hall made big-time plays."

Hall, a junior averaging 14.3 points per game to lead Stonington heading into the game, described the Bears’ wave of emotions following the loss.

Stonington beat Ledyard in overtime (69-64), Woodstock Academy by one (56-55), then-first place Bacon (57-45), Montville (49-38) and Killingly (59-55) to set itself up for a shot at the title.

“As a team we’re so frustrated … we worked so, so, so hard for that,” Hall said. “Honestly, we’re playing as a team. We don’t have a lot of star players, but not one person is coming out and not contributing. We don’t need a star.

“In practice, for 30 minutes each, we focus on shooting,” Hall said of the long-range 3s she hit to end both halves, both on the run and from well behind the 3-point line. "We are a shooting team, just sometimes when we do have chances (in a game), we get nervous."

Waterford, meanwhile, started the season 5-2 after graduating a number of seniors from last year’s team which went 19-7 and reached the championship game of the ECC tournament.

“It’s exciting for sure,” Capasso said of Waterford’s gradual climb to the top of the division. “We’ve still got to finish it out. We lost a ton of talent last year but we had a few good players to build around. We expected some kids to come on and they did.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com