It was all aboard for No. 12 Roland Park at yesterday's third annual Paul Sherry Shootout girls basketball mixer at Bryn Mawr.
The No. 12 Reds dominated the boards and made the most of second and third opportunities as they rode away with a 53-40 win over Catonsville. In the nightcap, the host Mawrtians held on to beat Western, 60-53.
Roland Park, with six players in the 5-foot-9 to 6-foot range, out-rebounded Catonsville 48-25 and used its height advantage to take control of the inside game. Audie Fugett, Barbara Seaman and Breyana Hall combined to grab 22 rebounds, while guards Dani Kell - who scored a game-high 18 points - and Molly Frew had 11.
"We recognized [the height advantage] before the game," Kell said, "and it was one of our priorities to get the ball inside. We have a lot of power in there, and we have a lot of flexible players."
The Reds also got a boost from hot-shooting freshman guard Amanda Hessinger, who hit three three-pointers and scored 11 points.
She made a pair of long shots in the first quarter to help the Reds roll up an 18-8 lead. Hessinger's third 20-footer came early in the third quarter just after the Comets' Kelly Blake hit one to cut the Reds' lead to 31-25.
After Hessinger's three-pointer, the Reds (3-2) went back inside. Kell fed Fugett and Hall for back-to-back layups off similar inbounds plays under their own basket. Hall then hit Kell for a backdoor bucket and Kell added three free throws to run the lead to 43--27 with 2:54 left in the third quarter.
The Comets, coming off Friday night's 66-26 loss at No. 1 St. Frances, managed to get no closer than 10 midway through the fourth quarter.
"We weren't running our offensive sets all the way through," said Comets forward Carly Wasserbach. "We were just getting up the court, making one pass and when we missed they got the rebounds."
Sandy Wasserbach scored 10 to lead the Comets (1-4).
Western also went into yesterday's contest having played Friday night, but it lost its top player in the 56-53 win at Lake Clifton.
Jeanell Hughes, who had been averaging nearly 26 points a game, broke her jaw in a collision late in Friday night's game. She may be out as long as six weeks.
That left the Doves to adjust on the fly and the Mawrtians took advantage, building a 14-3 lead. Bryn Mawr freshman guard Darryll Peterson, who finished with 15 points, scored eight in the opening 5 1/2 minutes.
The Mawrtians, who had prepared for a Hughes-led team, had to make their own adjustments but opened strong, hitting five of their first seven shots.
The Doves (5-2) clawed back, thanks in large part to Lavon Woods' 10 fourth-quarter points. Brianni Johnson brought the Doves within 53-45 with 2:03 left, but the Mawrtians (2-4) controlled the boards and handled the Doves' press to hold on.
"We broke the press well at the end when they attacked us," said Mawrtians forward Andrea Dodrill, who also scored 15. "We pulled it together, and we kept our lead."
Woods, who finished with a game-high 19 points, made a three-pointer with 23 seconds left to pull to within 59-53.
Each year, the Sherry Shootout benefits the Towson Recreation Council, where Paul Sherry coached until he died of cancer in 1999. Sherry's three daughters, including sophomore Valerie, played basketball for the Mawrtians.
This year's event took on added significance, because it honored Rayna DuBose, a former All-Metro basketball player at Oakland Mills, who contracted meningococcal meningitis in April as a freshman on the Virginia Tech team. DuBose, whose feet and hands were amputated because of complications from the meningitis, inspired the players just by walking into the gym yesterday to watch the games.