Another rematch looms for Foxboro.

Foxboro High's Yara Fawaz

The Foxboro High School girls' basketball team overcame some early shooting jitters and turned on the defense to humble Dighton-Rehoboth, 54-27, Wednesday night in the opening round of the MIAA Division 2-South tournament at Foxboro High.

The victory sets up yet another rematch in the tournament for Foxboro, which will entertain No. 7 Pembroke Friday night at home, game-time 6:30. The Titans rallied from an early deficit to defeat No. 10 Notre Dame of Hingham, 64-35, to set up the rematch of last year's sectional semifinal -- a crushing 50-24 defeat for the Warriors at Bridgewater-Raynham. The biggest difference this year? It'll be on the friendly Foxboro High hardcourt.

The second-seeded Warriors (20-2) and 15th-seeded Falcons (11-10) started playing at a breakneck pace in the early going and the results were a lot of missed shots and flying bodies. But Foxboro emerged with a 7-4 lead after the first quarter, and junior guard Katelyn Mollica found the range early in the second.

Mollica hit three of her seven 3-pointers in the second quarter as Foxboro -- momentarily stunned by an ankle injury suffered by starting center Shakirah Ketant -- regained its composure and outscored D-R 13-2 in the quarter, taking a 20-6 halftime lead.

Ketant made her way back onto the court for the beginning of the second half, and scored an early basket in the paint to reassure her teammates before Foxboro coach Lisa Downs gave her the rest of the game off as a precaution. Mollica, meanwhile, pumped in another 11 points in the quarter for a 23-6 quarter advantage and a 43-12 lead entering the final eight minutes.

Mollica finished with a season-high 29 points, just two shy of her career high set last year against Canton. She now has 1,137 career points. Senior center Meghan Reed led D-R with eight points.

As there were plenty of contributors to Foxboro's success, here are the hockey-style three stars from the contest (I'd say they are sponsored by Mrs. Sherman's Fine Foods, but you have to listen to my podcasts to get that joke):

No. 3 Star: Lizzy Davis. The senior guard contributed in all sorts of ways. First, she scored seven of her eight points in the third quarter as the Warriors took full charge of the game. Second, she was the primary defender of D-R's leading scorer, junior guard Emily D'Ambrosio, who entered the game averaging 18 points a game but scored her only basket in the third quarter and finished with just five points. And finally, Davis took at least three baskets away from the Falcons by stepping in to take charges from driving players under the basket. Hopefully, her folks found plenty of ice for her hard-earned bruises after the game.

No. 2 Star: Yara Fawaz. The senior forward was a dynamo on the court all night long. When Ketant went out with the ankle injury, Fawaz sent her rebounding skills into overdrive and started pulling down practically every offensive rebound in sight. She also would race downcourt on defense, beating the smaller and presumably quicker D-R guards to repeatedly create steals or turnovers. Fawaz never paused in her effort, reacting almost immediately to the circumstance on the court and making the appropriate play.

No. 1 Star: Katelyn Mollica. They say that the best players bring their best when their teams need it the most. No question, Mollica brought hers. After the early adrenaline rush of Opening Night wore off, Mollica stopped clanging the ball off the back of the rim and made the adjustments needed to hit her full repertoire of shots. After a quick-burst layup in the first quarter to get her into the scoring column, she would throw nine more shots through the rim, including seven 3-pointers. And it's not as if D-R left her free; freshman Anna Damon did a creditable job of sticking with her. But Foxboro's superior screens and ball movement made the task of containing Mollica almost impossible.

Elsewhere:

Bishop Feehan girls 58, King Philip 46: A second straight win over the No. 5 Shamrocks was not to be for the No. 12 Warriors, ending their season at 12-9. The Shamrocks (16-5) were led by Lydia Mordarski (16 points), Kyla Cunningham (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Hailey Coupal (10 points). Faye Veilleux scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Faith Roy had 10 points for KP, which fell into an early hole by shooting 5-28 from three-point range. Feehan faces No. 4 Newton South (16-5), a 68-43 victor over No. 13 New Bedford, 6:30 p.m. Friday at Newton South in the Division 1-South quarterfinals.

Tri-County girls 37, West Boylston 34: The sixth-seeded Cougars (13-6) edged 11th-seed West Boylston (11-10) to advance to the quarterfinals of the Division 4-Central playoffs. T-C will face No. 4 Blackstone Valley Tech (16-5) on the road Saturday at 5 p.m.