ELLICOTT CITY, MD — If the Mt. Hebron girls basketball team lacked anything in Thursday night's game against visiting Centennial, it certainly wasn't sources of motivation.
Playing on their Senior Night, the Vikings needed the win to stay in the hunt for a share of the county title and the top seed in the region.
But an even bigger motivating factor might have been that, back in early January, this same Centennial team had derailed Mt. Hebron's hopes for a flawless conference record.
"That was our whole motivation. We weren't going to let that go. That's been eating at us all season," said Vikings senior Meghan Doherty, who scored 12 points in her team's 49-41 victory Thursday night. "We played our hearts out."
The game had a playoff atmosphere in the first half, as Centennial (14-4) raced to a 4-0 lead, then Mt. Hebron (16-2) came back to tie it. The score was tied four times in the first quarter, but a score by Doherty with five seconds left in the quarter put the Vikings ahead, 12-11.
Though it seemed unlikely at the time, that basket actually put Mt. Hebron ahead for good.
"I'm so proud of how hard we worked to get this win," said Doherty, who also finished with five steals. "This was a great night."
Though Centennial refused to let up, Mt. Hebron controlled the second half, as Megan Konig scored nine of her game-high 17 points before going down with a leg cramp in the final minute.
"She had an amazing game. She's an awesome player and I'm going to miss playing with her. She's my go-to girl. We look for each other on the court," Doherty said. "She's a tough girl, she'll pretend like it doesn't hurt."
The Eagles were led by senior Anna Mitchell (15 points, 10 rebounds) and freshman Kelly Simmons (11 points, 12 rebounds), but were hamstrung by 13 missed free throws in 21 attempts.
"They hit a few more shots than we did, but tonight was good preparation for a playoff atmosphere," Centennial coach Bobby Macheel said.
The Vikings, on the other hand, were 10-for-14 from the line, and Konig was a perfect 8-for-8.
"She's going to step up no matter what. She'll take a little Tylenol and put some Bengay on. She's an old school player. It would take a broken bone and a cast to keep her off the court, especially her senior year," Mt. Hebron coach Tony Bell said. "I can't even put into words what this senior class has meant to me and for the school and the program. They're going to definitely be missed. If we're ever blessed to have a group of seniors like this come through here again I'll be the luckiesty man on earth."
Mt. Hebron wraps up the regular season at Long Reach on Friday, while Centennial hosts Marriotts Ridge.
Atholton (16-1), which split wins with Mt. Hebron this season, can clinch its first county title since 2007 with wins against Glenelg on Friday and Oakland Mills on Monday. If the Raiders were to lose one of those games, Mt. Hebron could claim a share of the county title.
"We definitely want to get home court for the playoffs, that was our goal from the beginning of the year," Bell said. "A county title would have been a nice little prize to go along with that, but there's a bigger prize."
"We're really excited for the playoffs. We think we're going to go far. We have another whole season ahead of us," Doherty said. "We're going to do big things this year ... we get really excited and hyped for these big games. Now we have to play every playoff game like it's our last game, because it could be. I think we're going to bring the same intensity and be able to play for each other and give it our all like we did tonight."
MH (16-2): Konig 17, Doherty 12, Green 5, Devine 4, Alli 2, Crump 2, LeConte 2, Purnell 2, Williams 2.
C (14-4): Mitchell 15, Simmons 11, Burk 6, Driscoll 6, Gray 2, Eads 1.
Half: MH 22-15