In a close game at the end, Severna Park had something in the final minutes that eluded the quick, athletic Meade Mustangs: experience.

Clamping down on defense, beating the press and making free throws, the No. 9 Falcons scored the last five points last night in a game where every point counted to gain a 51-48 victory over host and No. 14 Meade in the county opener for both teams.

Forward Julia Waters fought off a good interior defense from the Mustangs to finish with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Lauren Hall scored the last two of her 14 points when they were needed most with a coast-to-coast layup to give the Falcons a 49-48 lead with 45 seconds left. It was point guard Jessica Norris, stuck in the corner with the Mustangs trapping, who was able to get the ball to Hall for the winning bucket.

All three are seniors.

"We have so many players that have played so long; we've seen the situations so many times," Waters said. "We don't get rattled, and the overall experience from everyone helps us out."

It was sophomore Breon Summers who had a successful experience at the free-throw line, sinking two foul shots with 17 seconds left to push the lead to three.

Meade, which led most of the way, had a final chance, but senior guard Tami Webster's three-pointer was off the mark.

The Falcons improve to 3-2 on the season, while the Mustangs lose for the first time to fall to 4-1.

Behind a team-high 14 points from guard Sparkle Williamson, Meade scored the game's first seven points and also built other seven-point advantages in the middle quarters, but could not find enough distance.

Coach Dave Wylie and his Mustangs will look back on a 10-for-23 performance from the free-throw line, some other possessions with hurried shots and turnovers, and a Severna Park team that showed a knack for closing out a game.

"We lost focus, made mental errors to let them back on it," Wylie said. "We'll work in practice on staying focused for 32 minutes and we'll do better the next time. We have to learn to close out a game when we have the chance, so we'll take this as a learning experience."

Doing the little things right is what Severna Park coach Bill Giblin is counting on to get more wins in a highly competitive county race.

"We just work hard," he said. "Meade has a very athletic team and that caused us some problems, but our experience paid off at the end."