Combining a textbook inside-outside game on offense with a determined front on defense, the Mount Hebron girls basketball team had everything working last night at Atholton.
The No. 11 Vikings got 16 points from junior Deanna Dydynski, a dominating 15-point performance inside from senior Jasmine Jarrett and, most importantly, they continually made the No. 6 Raiders work for every point they could muster in coming away with a surprisingly easy 58-38 win in Howard County play.
The Vikings are 12-1 overall and 9-1 in Howard, while the Raiders are 11-2 and 10-1 in the league.
"This week in practice we worked so hard to come out and beat them. We got a lot of spark from everybody, we kept the floor spread and tried to beat them with our shooting and tried to shut down their fast-break transition," Dydynski said. "Everybody came out real hard and we played great team ball. It was amazing."
The Raiders missed their first nine shots in the pivotal second quarter, enabling the Vikings to build a 25-14 lead minutes before the half.
Getting six three-pointers in all to go with a strong second half from Jarrett, who scored 12 of her 15 points in the final two quarters, the Vikings were never seriously challenged and then pulled away in the later stages.
"We have a lot of depth. We can get contributions from a lot of different people and we feel we can wear teams down," said Mount Hebron coach Scott Robinson, who said the key was limiting the Raiders' scoring. "Atholton is a great team - they can really shoot the ball well - and I thought our girls' defensive effort was outstanding and our spacing was very good on offense to create some shots."
Atholton got 16 points from Julie Taylor and 12 from Elie Snyder, but was never able to find an offensive flow, with the Vikings bent on making them earn everything. Before the game, Atholton coach Maureen Shacreaw said the key would be which team shot better. While her Raiders hit only 29 percent from the field (15-for-52), the Vikings made seven more field goals with the same number of shots.
"We went cold in the second quarter, and they took off," Shacreaw said. "They are good. Their offensive spacing was excellent. They have good athletes and smart athletes. They beat us in the second quarter, and we could never close the gap."
glenn.graham@baltsun.com