After Jasmine Dickey’s jersey is retired, sister Ashley scores 23 points to lead Catonsville girls basketball over Mount de Sales

After sitting on the bench for much of the second quarter Saturday, Catonsville girls basketball senior Ashley Dickey knew it was time to turn up the heat in the second half against Mount de Sales.

After all, the Comets had just retired her older sister’s No. 20 jersey.

On the night Catonsville honored former star Jasmine Dickey, Ashley Dickey scored a game-high 23 points, including 11 in the third quarter, to lead the Comets to a 37-31 victory over Mount de Sales.

With a victory in the final game of the Catonsville Challenge Cup, the Comets won the event for the first time since 2017. Mount de Sales won it in 2018 and 2019, but COVID-19 canceled the basketball season last year.

“I know that the team looks up to me and when I have good energy they piggyback off my energy, so you’ve got to stay positive,” Dickey said. “If I’m scoring, then everyone seems to score or play good defense, or get assists or get steals.”

Dickey made her presence felt early in the second half, scoring all 11 of the Comets’ points in the third quarter to help stretch a four-point halftime lead to 10.

Just 18 seconds into the second half, she hit a 12-foot jumper to give the Comets a 17-11 lead. Her layup with 6:24 left was followed by a fast-break bucket 12 seconds later to push the advantage to 21-11. Dickey also scored the final five points of the quarter to put the Comets in front 26-16.

“Once I start making my shots, like that first shot, is just momentum and my confidence goes up,” she said.

The Sailors (2-5) hung around thanks to freshman Shelby Lewis, who had 11 of her team-high 13 points in the first three quarters and finished with eight rebounds.

“She is going to be lights-out,” Mount de Sales coach Trish Armstrong said. “She is our pleasant surprise this year.”

Dickey has been lights-out for the Comets (4-1) this season. On Friday night, she had 22 points in a 48-37 win at Hereford.

“Ashley is Ashley, she is going to go after it, she knows what the situation is and I thought the other kids played really well,” Catonsville coach Mike Mohler said.

The only thing that could stop the Comets’ star was the referees’ whistle. Mohler stood by his traditional stance to sit his players if they get two fouls in the first half, which kept Dickey on the bench for most of the second quarter.

“I’d rather play them with three fouls in the second half,” Mohler said.

The Sailors struggled shooting against a stingy man-to-man defense, led by Dickey, Taylor Whalen (five steals) and solid rebounding from Asaani Offer, Alexis Johnson and Marissa Massimini.

“Asaani Offer, if she touches it she’s getting it,” Mohler said. “She is just a rebounding machine.”

Massimini set the pace with her high energy.

“Marissa is the energizer bunny, she’s always going, going, going, going, going and sometimes you try and wind that thing back and it’s hard for her to do that,” Mohler said. “Marissa gives us so much for her size, she’s the best rebounding 5-foot-5 person we’ve got, she’s unbelievable the rebounds she gets.”

Massimini also assisted Offer for her only points of the night in the fourth quarter. Offer added five rebounds in the final quarter.

The Sailors struggled offensively from the perimeter and the free-throw line until the final 78 seconds, when they went on a 10-0 run to close the game.

Emma Wallace had eight points in the final quarter, Harper Eudy had three and Jordan Harris and Lewis had two each.

The Sailors finished 8-for-21 from the free-throw line, and two of their three made 3-pointers came in the final 1:01.

“We actually liked their heart and hustle and confidence today, but the ball did not drop,” Armstrong said. “We will be all right. They are turning the corner.”

Scoring

Catonsville 37: Ashley Dickey 23, Marissa Massimini 8, Asaani Offer 2, Alexis Johnson 2, Leah Vacin 2

Mount de Sales 31: Shelby Lewis 13, Emma Wallace 8, Harper Eudy 6, Jordan Harris 4

Halftime: 15-11, Catonsville

Jasmine Dickey’s jersey retired

Jasmine Dickey, a four-time All-Metro player and the second leading scorer in Maryland history with 2,091 career points, had her No. 20 jersey retired before Saturday’s game.

Dickey was the leading scorer for the Comets’ 2017 state championship team and 2018 team that lost in the state finals.

“No one will ever wear the No. 20 again because no one is deserving,” Mohler during the presentation.

Dickey was joined by her family and University of Delaware teammates and coaches. She is currently the leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball, averaging 25.6 points a game.

Delaware coach Natasha Adair knew she had to be there for the special ceremony.

“It’s just the right thing to do,” she said. “For what Jasmine means to our program, to what she means to her teammates, just what she has done here at the university since she has been on campus, an hour ride to support her and show her how much we care about her, it was right for us to do it and I was honored to be able to be here.

“Just to have some of her teammates here, I told them about it and they said coach, ‘We want to be there for her.’”

Dickey scored a career-high 48 points in an 87-73 victory over Eastern Michigan earlier this season.

“She is our leader and she is one of our captains, but she is so much more,” Adair said. “I’m very proud of her, people talk about her from the sense of what she does as an athlete, but I love highlighting who she is as a person and it starts with her family and it starts with her investment and she just rolls her sleeves up and works and she is the true example of hard work pays off and it’s paid off in so many ways, for her to be honored today, for no one to be able to wear the No. 20 is befitting to who she is and what she worked for.”

Dickey’s younger sister, Ashley, was equally proud.

“I look up to her so much, she’s like my best friend,” Ashley said. “Looking up to her just makes me want to be great.”

Jasmine was glad to see her sister play on the court in person.

“I love watching her play,” she said. “I try to get back every chance I can to come back and it was just an honor seeing my teammates and my family and just watching her do her thing out here. She is her own person. She is very crafty and she just does what she does and goes hard every time, every time. I’m proud of her. I really am.”