Nicole Sharpe had the kind of dominant performance many thought she was capable of in leading Dulaney to a 59-51 victory in overtime over Perry Hall in a girls basketball Class 4A North Region first-round playoff game Friday night.
Sharpe, a 5-foot-9 junior forward, excelled at both ends of the court. She finished with 31 points and 16 rebounds.
"Sometimes, I feel she mentally checks out of the game if things are not going her way," Dulaney coach Jess Szymanski said. "I feel like she fought through that tonight. She stepped up her game for us. She got the points and rebounds we needed her to get. She is really a huge part of our team."
Dulaney (14-6) moves on to to play Catonsville Monday in a quarterfinal at Catonsville High School.
The Comets (18-5) lost the Baltimore County title game Tuesday to four-time champion Millford Mill. The defeat ended an 11-game winning streak for Catonsville.
"It will be a really tough game and we have to play a lot better than we played against Perry Hall," Szymanski said. "That's for sure. Catonsville will play really good defense and we just have to be smart. We have to play better from the get-go."
Dulaney had beaten Perry Hall by 17 points in mid-December, but this game was close throughout. Sharpe had 14 points in the first half.
The Lions led, 19-15, in the middle of the second quarter, but trailed 27-23 at halftime.
Perry Hall (14-7) finished the second quarter on an 8-2 run as Brittany Gilliam and Kayla Stokes (team-high 17 points) each had four points during that stretch.
The Gators had their biggest lead at 33-27 with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter on a Stokes jumper.
Dulaney, however, closed with an 11-5 spurt to make it 38-38 at the end of the period.
Perry Hall opened the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run to go ahead 46-40 with 2:45 remaining. Dulaney committed three turnovers and missed all three of its shots during that span.
Perry Hall only scored two points for the rest of the quarter, missing all five of its shots.
The Lions took advantage, going on an 8-2 burst to tie it at 48-48 and force overtime.
Dulaney, however, didn't carry that momentum into the extra session. The Lions missed their first five shots.
Perry Hall led twice in overtime, moving ahead, 50-48, with 2:32 left.
Twenty eight second later, a Gilliam free throw broke a 50-50 tie.
The Gators didn't score again.
The Lions scored the last nine points. Briana Briggs and Sharpe started the run by converting layups. Free throws accounted for the remainder of Dulaney's points.
Senior forward Klarissa Harvey had 13 rebounds for Dulaney and teammate Ellie Mathey, a senior point guard, chipped in eight points.
"We had a couple of hiccups on defense with some rotation issues," Perry Hall coach Mandy Fischer said of the overtime. "You can't fault my players for their effort, but it just came down to some mental mistakes at the end."
Dulaney 59 Perry Hall 51
D: Sharpe 31, Mathey 8, Cohee 6, Briggs 4, Durmowicz 3, Harvey 3, Halley 2, Powell 1, Wheeler 1.
PH: K Stokes 17, Gilliam 13, T Stokes 8, Fitch 5, Kane 5, Shaw 2, Townsley 1. Half: 27-23 PH