Waterford — It didn't matter that Bacon Academy's girls' basketball team moved up to the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division and that Waterford moved down to the Medium Division this season.

Bacon's position, tied for the lead in the division, might have fueled Waterford's fire.

The Lancers led 19-7 after the first quarter Wednesday night, then held on to a 45-40 victory despite the best efforts of Bacon's Taylor McLaughlin, who finished with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds.

"It's a huge win. We were so excited that we won," said Waterford's Adily Martucci, who had eight points in the first quarter. "To be able to beat one of the top teams ... I'm so pumped right now."

Martucci had 14 points, fellow guard Alyssa Hancock 10 points and the two combined to play the wing spots on Waterford's 1-3-1 zone, which limited Bacon to 13-for-55 shooting (24 percent), 1-for-14 from 3-point range.

Martucci will play next season at Division I Quinnipiac University.

"Martucci's a really good player for this league. She got off to a good start. When you get off to a good start, sometimes that leads to a change of plans," Bacon Academy coach Dave Shea said.

"... We just didn't execute well. Their 1-3-1 zone gave us a lot of trouble. I don't know what our shooting percentage is, but it was very, very low."

In the first quarter, Waterford (7-3) used its quickness to run to the 12-point advantage, which the Lancers maintained throughout the rest of the half, leading 27-15 at the break.

At that point, Waterford coach Rob Von Achen urged his team to forget the lead and attack the Bobcats all over again coming out in the second half.

Hancock seconded that before leaving the locker room.

Then McLaughlin struck for Bacon (9-2), which had previously lost only to fellow Large Division leader East Lyme.

Having missed Tuesday night's game against New London with a sprained ankle, McLaughlin, a junior, responded to what was then a 13-point deficit for the Bobcats with a mini-clinic, scoring nine straight points.

She hit a jump shot, scored inside twice and was fouled both times — converting the three-point play the second time, following being fouled on a spin move — and then scored again to pull the Bobcats within 28-24.

"Scared? Oh, absolutely," Von Achen said, searching for a word to describe his feelings as the second half evolved.

"My whole halftime was about letting go of what we had. Then (Bacon) almost came back to win. With four or five minutes left we had a timeout and I said, 'This is what we talked about at halftime.' This is a damn good team. We can't give it away."

Waterford didn't break McLaughlin's spell until, following a timeout, Christine Hadfield scored on a pass zipped inside by Hancock, the first of two straight baskets for her.

Bacon got it to four one final time on a jump shot from Carlee Putnam at the top of the key, narrowing the lead to 32-28.

But while Hancock and Martucci scored only two points each in the fourth quarter, Waterford got contributions from the rest of its cast to nail down the win, including consecutive baskets by Hannah Scahill and Kelly Dugan to make it 35-28 with 5:31 to play.

Scahill also hit a jump shot late with Von Achen yelling, "No! No! No!" to essentially seal the game.

"This was a great win," Von Achen said. "They showed some character. They played like they wanted it."

v.fulkerson@theday.com