No. 16 Mount de Sales gave 17th-ranked Randallstown some indication of how far it still needed to go as it defeated the Rams, 64-47, in yesterday's opening round of the Catonsville Girls Christmas Classic.
The Sailors (6-3) will meet host Catonsville, a 46-44 winner over McDonogh in last night's other first-round contest, in tonight's 8 o'clock championship game.
Randallstown came into the game with a 6-0 record, but Mount de Sales coach Bill Held was more impressed with the Rams' talent than he was their undefeated status.
"We've been following Randallstown all year and we saw they were scoring 70 points a game, but in their division they play some weak teams," Held said.
"We lost to the biggies [No. 5 St. Mary's, No. 2 St. Frances and No. 10 Seton Keough] and we thought Randallstown hadn't played any real good teams yet so they haven't had a chance yet to exploit their potential.
"I think if they had played a couple strong teams, it would have been a different story today."
Randallstown coach Chris Hodge echoed Held's sentiments and said he saw it coming.
"This was a good learning experience for us," said Hodge.
"I'm not downing the teams we beat, but the talent level [in Baltimore County] is nothing like Mount de Sales. It was just shock. We would be better off playing good teams like that every night because we have some personnel. Sometimes you need to get a loss because I think the girls were getting a false sense of security."
Mount de Sales set the tone early as it jumped out to a 17-8 first-quarter lead. Amy Buck, who scored 22 points in last week's win over Severn, scored 10 of her 23 points in the first quarter that saw the Sailors shoot eight of 11 from the floor while the Rams committed 10 turnovers.
Randallstown (6-1), which defeated Eastern Tech, 71-17, a week ago, crept back into the game in the second quarter and trailed by three at the half, thanks to two three-pointers by senior Anika Lee (17 points) and another by sophomore Shavon Henley.
The Rams took their first lead of the game, 35-34, on a steal and layup by Lee with 3:34 left in the third. Randallstown closed out the period with three straight turnovers, enabling the Sailors to take a 42-37 lead into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was similar to the first, with Mount de Sales controlling the boards and hustling for the loose balls. Ana Martinez and and Danielle Peterson came alive down the stretch for the Catholic League contingent and finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Sophomore center Katrina Johns scored 21 points for Randallstown.
A set shot along the baseline by junior guard Krista Bayne and a game-ending steal by Jamie Funk helped Catonsville oust McDonogh. Bayne finished with 19 points for the Comets, and Shannon Rexrode helped out with 12 points.
Mary Urban paced the Eagles with 16 points, followed by Alaina Lawson (12) and Megan Kanski (10).