The Institute of Notre Dame simply could not stand the pressure from visiting St. Frances in the second half yesterday.
Melba Chambers scored 24 points, many off turnovers, as No. 9 St. Frances forced 27 of them on the way to a 57-49 victory over No. 18 IND in a Catholic League game.
St. Frances (14-7, 9-2) started slowly. Both Chambers and coach Jerome Shelton said the Panthers needed to get used to the IND gym, which was very loud and very cold.
IND (10-10, 6-6) controlled play for much of the first half.
Robin Johnson scored 14 of her 18 in the first half, many on drives to the basket. The Indians led by as many as eight, but St. Frances scored the final eight of the half for a 25-25 tie.
The Panthers then switched to a trapping half-court 1-3-1 zone in the second half.
That caused immediate trouble for IND, as it turned the ball over on its first three possessions.
"We can play half-court, but we like to get out there and run," said Shelton. "We wanted to get them out of their offense and get some easy baskets."
And that's just what happened. Several times, St. Frances stole the ball and converted it into easy layups.
IND kept throwing high cross-court passes that the Panthers -- often Chambers, Jakia Ervin (10 points) and Sherry Dawkins (eight points) -- repeatedly intercepted or knocked away.
The Panthers led, 29-27, early in the third quarter when Chambers took over.
Chambers also had started slowly, scoring only five in the first half. But the second half was a different story.
After Kristi Webb (13 points) made a layup to give St. Frances a 29-27 lead, Chambers made a steal and a layup. She followed that with a three-pointer for a 34-27 lead.
"We were letting them bring their offense to us [in the first half]," said Chambers. "The defense in the first half wasn't good."
Candice Morrison (11 points) sparked a rally for IND, and the Indians crept back to tie the game. They drew even at 44 with 5:26 left on a Johnson jumper.
But Chambers and the defense answered once more. St. Frances forced four turnovers on the next five possessions, and Chambers scored seven in a row to put St. Frances in control.
"Melba has to be a leader on the team," said Shelton. "She carries over to the other kids."
Chambers hurt IND earlier this season when the Panthers scored another victory.
IND coach Deb Taylor said before the game that her team needed to keep Chambers under control.
The Indians did that for awhile, but the combination of Chambers and the pressure defense proved too much.
"[Chambers] just killed us," said Taylor. "We had a tough time against their pressure. We didn't attack it, and it hurt us."
* Randallstown 57, Perry Hall 31: Katrina Johns scored 17 points and LaTonya Chambers added 10, leading visiting and No. 17 Randallstown (16-2) past Perry Hall (11-5).