Glenelg senior Lauren Martin looked up at the scoreboard after the first quarter of last night's Class 1A semifinal game against Cambridge-South Dorchester and couldn't believe her eyes.
"I saw we were losing," said Martin, who this season became Howard County's all-time leading scorer. "I said, 'I'm a senior. What am I doing?' I just wanted to step it up."
Martin scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter, and the Gladiators used a 23-10 run to move comfortably ahead en route to a 61-45 victory at UMBC.
Glenelg (25-1) will play Allegany (24-3), which jumped to a 14-point halftime lead and defeated Hereford, 63-42, for the title at UMBC at 6 p.m. today.
The Gladiators reached the state final in 1989 and 1992 but came away empty.
"It was ugly, but we won," Martin said. "We know we can't play like that tomorrow, or the other team will crush us. It's one of those games where we learned our lesson and fortunately came out with a win."
And that lesson? "That we can't come out lackadaisical," Martin said.
Glenelg made only three of 16 field-goal attempts and committed six turnovers in the first eight minutes, after which they trailed, 9-6.
"We wanted to press, but you only can press when you score, and we only scored three times," said Glenelg coach Ciaran Lesikar.
Glenelg center Kris Brust (game-high 22 points, 17 rebounds) scored her team's three first-quarter baskets.
The Gladiators trailed 11-6 early in the second quarter before finally scoring some baskets that allowed them to use their aggressive full-court press to create turnovers. They outscored their Dorchester County opponent 23-8 and took a 29-19 lead into halftime.
"We were jittery," said Glenelg junior forward Stephanie Howell (12 points, 10 in the third quarter). "We finally realized it was just another game, but it took us a quarter to realize it."
Glenelg's press caused 11 second-quarter turnovers by Cambridge-South Dorchester (12-13), and the Vikings' sloppy play continued in the third quarter when the Gladiators used a 22-10 run to build a 51-29 advantage going into the final quarter.
"Once they went with the full-court press, we didn't adjust," said Cambridge-South Dorchester coach Bill Horsey. "That was the difference in the ball game."
Class 2A girls basketball
A first-time state champion will be crowned when Parkside, from the Salisbury area, meets Frederick County's Urbana for the Class 2A title at 1 p.m. today at UMBC.
Beth Houck had 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals to lead Parkside over Prince George's County's Central, 81-62, in yesterday's semifinal at UMBC. The winning Rams (25-2) also got 23 points from Kim Davis and 15 from Rene Wallace.
In yesterday's other semifinal, Urbana hit seven of 12 free throws in the final 1: 25 to ice a 61-51 win over Cecil County's North East.
Jennie Orelli had 15 and Pam Kenney 14 to lead the Hawks. Kelly Sadtler added 10. Katie Davis scored 29 for North East (22-5), which beat defending champ Towson for the region title.
Pub Date: 3/13/99