It was just another average game for Arundel. Except for the Wildcats, par seems to be a 30-point rout.
Jen Mottar and Chavonne Hammond combined for 26 points, 20 rebounds and nine steals to pace No. 12 Arundel past Eleanor Roosevelt of Prince George's County, 53-25, last night in the first round of the Arundel Holiday Tournament in Gambrills. The Wildcats (6-0) face Crossland of Prince George's tonight at 7 in the championship game.
The Wildcats, who allow just 24.2 points per game, have depended on their pressing defense to break open games, producing an average margin of victory of 38.6 points.
"That's the way we want to play on the court," Arundel coach Lee Rogers said. "We like to play defense and don't like set offenses, but we have to run set offenses sometimes. We'd rather our defense cause turnovers and get points that way."
Arundel caused 11 turnovers in the Raiders' first 16 possessions to run to a 13-0 lead. Roosevelt (3-3) didn't score until 3:36 before halftime and was held without a field goal for a near eight-minute stretch in the second half.
Arundel raced to its biggest lead at 48-18 by scoring on 12 of 13 possessions at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Offensive standouts Mottar and Hammond also led the team on defense. Mottar finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Hammond contributed 13 points, nine rebounds, five blocks, four steals and three assists.
Crossland 46, North County 43
In the other first-round game, Tiffanie Drayton's seven-foot jump shot with 15 seconds remaining lifted Crossland (2-4) over North County (3-3).
Drayton, who scored a game-high 15 points, gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the second half. Chatina Crawford then stole the inbounds pass and made a layup to put Crossland ahead 46-43.
"We gave them a late Christmas gift," North County coach Sally Entsminger said. "We just handed that game away."
Senior guard Anne Ketterle led the Knights with 14 points.