FREDERICK -- South Carroll often struggled on offense last night. The Cavaliers managed to put together only one hot streak.
But that was enough.
Nikki Spencer, Lindsey Vosloh and Amber Clutter sparked a second-half run in which No. 9 South Carroll scored 20 of 26 and the Cavaliers rallied for a 48-39 victory over Bishop Kearney (N.Y.) in the opening round of the first Lady Cougar Invitational at Frederick Community College.
South Carroll (6-1) advances to the championship game today at 3 p.m. against Middletown, a 46-39 winner over Holy Cross in the other first-round game.
The Cavaliers could not get going for much of the first half that ended in a 19-19 tie.
The Cavaliers, often pestered by the quick Bishop Kearney defense, missed 23 of 31 and turned the ball over 11 times.
But South Carroll coach Al Skierski made a few changes in the second half.
He forced his offense to move more and open up by posting up center Spencer and forward Ce Wagner at the top of the key and having them look around to pass.
"We tried just to move a little bit," said Skierski. "In the first half, we were making good moves, we were taking good shots. The ball just wasn't falling."
It began falling in the second half. Trailing 28-24, South Carroll tied it on a layup by Clutter (eight points) and a jumper by Vosloh (10 points). Melissa Gettemy added a jumper and volleyball teammate Spencer (15 points, 14 rebounds) hit a jumper for a 32-28 lead with 1:39 left in the quarter.
Spencer added a follow-up, and Clutter drove in alone after a steal for a 36-31 lead after three. Vosloh made three jumpers early in the fourth quarter to finish the run and give South Carroll a 44-34 lead with 4:44 remaining.
"[The streak] kind of pulled us out of a rut," said Spencer. "Once we get in a rut, we have a hard time pulling out, but the streak pulled us out."
Said Vosloh: "Hitting a couple in a row [helped]. We got our confidence back."
And when the Cavaliers found their confidence, they controlled the game.
Clutter did a good job of running the South Carroll offense, and the Cavaliers controlled the tempo for the final quarter and a half.
South Carroll was more selective with its shots and hit 13 of 27 in the second half. The Cavaliers made 12 of their last 21 as they slowly pulled away.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, made life miserable for the Tigers offense.
South Carroll threw a number of different looks at the Brooklyn team -- man-to-man, 1-3-1, 1-2-2 -- and often got a hand in the shooter's face.
Bishop Kearney shot poorly all night. The Tigers finished by hitting 13 of 52 from the field (25 percent). When South Carroll stepped up the pressure on defense in the second half, the Tigers stumbled.
Bishop Kearney missed 18 of its 21 shots and scored 11 points in the final 12:25. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Tigers went 5:47 without a basket as they missed 11 straight shots.
Kerry Ansbro was the only player to shoot well, as she scored 14.
The tough evening shooting capped an all-around bad day for Bishop Kearney.
Earlier in the day, the team's bus was late in New York, so the Tigers left two hours behind schedule. The bus had a flat tire on the drive to Maryland and the Tigers arrived at the gym only 25 minutes before tip-off.
The Tigers looked out of sync the entire game. Except for one brief run in the first half, Bishop Kearney never got its offense in gear.
"They were very sluggish," said Bishop Kearney coach Cathy Crockett of her team. "I think they were tired."