On Monday night, the Centennial girls basketball team took a field trip to the only game on the league schedule: Long Reach at Mt. Hebron.
The Eagles knew that they'd be playing Mt. Hebron two nights later, and that they could use any advantage they could get against the Vikings, who ran their league record to 7-0 with a dominant 60-32 win on Monday.
Tally one up for the Centennial scouting department.
Led by senior Kimmy Eads (15 points) and freshman Kelly Simmons (11), the Eagles (5-2) defeated the Vikings (7-1), 52-49, on Wednesday night.
"We did a really nice job of dealing with their pressure and man-to-man defense," Centennial coach Bobby Macheel said. "They focused on Anna Mitchell (8 points) and some other people stepped up in a really big way. Kimmy Eads had a great game, and so did Kelly Simmons."
Centennial — which lost to Howard (6-1) and Atholton (5-1) on Dec. 17 and 19 — took a 29-20 lead into halftime, and stretched it to as much as 15 points in the third quarter. But Mt. Hebron hit a few big three-pointers and knocked down its free throws to eventually tie the game in the fourth quarter.
Mitchell hit a few clutch field goals late in the fourth quarter to put her team ahead by three with two seconds left, when a steal by junior guard Ally Driscoll (7 points) clinched the upset.
Last year, Centennial and Mt. Hebron split their regular season meetings and finished 2-3 in the league standings.
"It was a really great team victory. Everyone shared the ball and did what they needed to do," said Macheel, who teaches at Mt. Hebron. The county championship race "is going to be tight. I think it's going to come down to Mt. Hebron, Atholton, Howard and us. I think it's going to come down to the last week of the season."
Mt. Hebron was led in the loss by Megan Doherty (17 points), Megan Konig (10) and Nia Crump (10).
MH (7-1): Doherty 17, Crump 10, Konig 10, Leconte 4, Williams 4, Green 2, Purnell 2.
C (5-2): Eads 15, Simmons 11, Mitchell 8, Driscoll 7, Gray 5, Dunagan 4, Burke 2.
Half: C 29-20