The Glenelg girls' 57-55 overtime win over Centennial in the North Carroll Holiday Tournament opener yesterday in Hampstead appeared to be a tough act to follow.
But it turned out to be just a warm-up on the tournament's first day.
Centennial's boys followed with a 60-58 win over Fallston on a Denny Chapman jumper at the buzzer -- it was Centennial's first lead since the opening basket.
The North Carroll girls avenged an early-season loss to Francis Scott Key in their 66-57 win, and the North Carroll boys matched that feat, managing a a 67-64 victory over Key.
Glenelg will face North Carroll in the girls championship game today at 6. The boys championship will follow at 8, with Centennial taking on the surprise Panthers.
The girls consolation game will get underway at 2, followed by the boys third-place game at 4.
The Glenelg girls overcame a 10-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and sent the game into overtime on Jill Younce's running shot with three seconds left.
Suzy Mundy's putback with just under two minutes left in the overtime period broke a 55-55 tie and gave Glenelg its first lead since the second quarter.
Centennial led 22-20 at the half and quickly built the lead to 10 behind forward Kish Jordan, who scored the first eight points in the second half and finished with 29 points to go along with 16 rebounds.
Glenelg made its fourth-quarter run with tight defense and some fine outside shooting from Younce, who scored 13 of her 17 points in the fourth.
"We just picked it up a little bit," said Glenelg coach Randy Wallenhorst.
"We worked on defending Jordan in our last couple of practices and it worked out pretty well down the stretch. Jill Younce got her rhythm going and we looked for the fast break more in the second half."
The North Carroll girls reached the finals with some aggressive play from forward Teresa Mays, who finished with 18 points, and sound guard play led by Cori Bradford, who finished with 16.
The Panthers (3-4) took a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter only to see the Eagles (3-3) get within 59-55 with just under three minutes left. But the Panthers scored seven of the game's last nine points to advance to the tournament final.
"The first six games we played inconsistent -- a good quarter here, a good quarter there. We played much better for all four quarters," said North Carroll coach Greg Knill.
FTC "Teresa [Mays] took control early on and everyone followed suit. All the guards played very well. Cori [Bradford], Aubrey [Wilfong], and Melissa [Wilfong] made excellent decisions and Jocelyn [Bredenburg] gave us quality minutes off the bench."
Senior Maureen Ritcey led the Eagles with 19 points and Stacey Greene played a big role in Key's last-quarter run, scoring eight of her 12 points in the fourth.
The Centennial boys -- without four starters -- found a way to get by Fallston behind a 24-point effort from Doug Ulman.
The senior guard kept the Eagles close throughout the game and tied the score on a layup with 11 seconds left to set the stage for Chapman's jumper to win it.
"We ran isolation specifically for Doug and felt he would get a good shot off or get to the foul line," Centennial coach Jim Hill said of the tying basket.
"And then on the winning shot, we had Doug as our first option again with Denny Chapman the second option. He's a marvelous shooter who missed some free throws so it was nice for him to have the chance to win it."
Kemess Kelly had 22 points to lead Fallston, with Jud Ryan (13) and Rick Shearer (10) also in double digits.
The North Carroll boys saved their best for last, beating a Key team that defeated the Panthers, 94-50, earlier in the season.
The Panthers (3-4) maintained a lead throughout the game before Key (5-2 ) rallied in the fourth quarter to take a 54-52 lead on a follow from Steve Wright with 3:33 left.
The Panthers were down 57-54 with 2:18 left when Ryan Bowles hit a three from the top of the circle.
Jason Gelb (22 points) gave the Panthers the lead for good when he put home a short baseline jumper with 22 seconds left. He then added two free throws with 15 seconds left to give the Panthers a 65-61 lead.
Wright -- who dominated inside throughout the fourth quarter -- answered with a three from the outside to get Key within one at 65-64, but Roger Bauer hit two free throws to give the Panthers a three-point lead and Mike Crawmer's desperation three at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
"The kids gave me everything they had," said North Carroll coach Troy Warehime. "I think a big part of it was how we were embarrassed at Key. Tonight, we broke the press, played good half-court offense, Jason Gelb was on fire and we made our free throws. It was a great win for the program."