Down eight points at halftime, St. Paul’s School for Girls rallied for a 45-43 basketball victory over Maryvale in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference game Wednesday night at Maryvale.
The game ended the regular season for the Gators, who won six of their last seven.
They’ll get a first-round playoff bye, then host either St. Mary’s or St. Timothy’s on Tuesday.
“We are going into the playoff really confident,” St. Paul’s senior guard Sharon Hall said. “I think we can have a really good run if we believe in ourselves and play like the way we did tonight. I really believe we can win a championship.”
Hall finished with a game-high 16 points. Senior guard Alex Wright added 11.
Junior Mikayla Ragsdale led Maryvale with 13 points and teammate Shana Hildreth contributed 12.
Maryvale (8-14 overall, 4-12 league) could have pulled off the upset in Brooklandville on senior night if the Lions had played better in the third quarter. They only scored six points and committed six turnovers.
Maryvale went six minutes without scoring in the quarter.
St. Paul’s (16-9, 8-4) went on a 14-2 run during that drought as Hull, the school’s all-time leading scorer, had nine points in that stretch.
“We came with energy in the third quarter,” Maryvale coach Alex Miller said. “Our shots just weren’t falling.”
Maryvale regained the lead with 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter on Ragsdale’s jumper.
But St. Paul’s used a 9-2 run over the next 5:21 to make it 43-37 and take the lead for good.
Maryvale, however, trimmed the lead to 43-41 with 20 seconds remaining on Tamia Morris free throw.
The Lions fouled Wright and she made one of two free throws to put St. Paul’s ahead 44-41 with 11 second left.
Maryvale quickly brought the ball down the court and Ragsdale converted a layup eight seconds later to trim the lead to 44-43.
Morris fouled Kacy McNeave on the inbounds play and she hit one of her two free-throw attempts.
Maryvale's Shana Hildreth couldn’t get off a desperation shot before the buzzer sounded.
“They definitely gave us a good shot in the mouth,” St. Paul’s coach Pat Conrad said. “They were aggressive and shooting. It looked like a couple of their girls were having career games against us. These are the games I worry about. It was senior night. The crowd was into it.”