When the season started, the Towson Catholic's girls basketball team had a lot of rebuilding to do, but Tyler Hale and Gabrielle Styles were up to the challenge.

The Owls had graduated a lot of talent, including All-Metro Player of the Year Marah Strickland, now at Maryland, and had a new coach in athletic director Jeff Palumbo, so, as seniors, Hale and Styles had a lot to do.

They brought leadership to a young team, as well as scoring and rebounding. Hale, a versatile forward-guard who scored her 1,000th career point last week, averages 20 points and leads the team in rebounding. Styles, a forward, averages 10 points and is second in rebounding.

"They have anchored everything," Palumbo said. "In the beginning, they were both playing really well and maybe trying to do too much because we were so young everywhere else. The younger girls have been stepping up, and they've provided good leadership."

Sophomore guards Chelsea Dukes, Candace McCray and Melanie Williamson have helped the Owls play strong defense, something they used to get back into Monday's game against No. 4 City. They fell behind 18-1 but got within 43-42 before running out of gas and falling, 59-47.

The Owls, 14-5 overall, have the fifth-best record in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland's A Conference at 10-4 going into tonight's game with No. 1 Seton Keough.

After recent wins over McDonogh and then-No. 7 Mercy, the Owls are up to No. 12 in The Sun's poll.

Cardinal Gibbons basketball -- When the Crusaders started at 4-5, it seemed injuries and inconsistent play would unravel their season. But thanks to a second-half surge, including a five-game winning streak last month, the team finds itself back in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference race. "I think that we just started jelling at the right time," coach Jeff Cheevers said. "Guys are starting to understand their roles on the team, and that's been a big part of our success." Gibbons is 14-9 overall and 6-4 in the Baltimore Catholic League. The Crusaders are 7-6 in the conference, putting them in fifth place. The top six teams in the conference make the playoffs. Senior point guard Jamar Briscoe has been the star of the offense, and he has stepped up on the biggest stages. He scored 24 points in an 69-66 upset of No. 5 St. Frances on Jan. 24 and had 36 in a 68-63 defeat at the hands of No. 1 Mount St. Joseph.

Marathon -- Ben Levin, McDonogh's 130-pound wrestler and captain, will be running in the Country Music Marathon April 26 in Nashville, Tenn. He'll be running for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure fund, which raises money for breast cancer research, in honor of Patty Bakewell and Lena Woody, who have been diagnosed with the disease. Bakewell is the mother of McDonogh assistant wrestling coach Joe Bakewell, and Woody is the mother of Albert Woody, who wrestles for McDonogh at 135 pounds. Donations may be made to Benjamin Levin, 28 Caraway Road, Reisterstown, MD, 21136.

DIGITS

6 -- Consecutive Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championships for the McDonogh girls swimming team

16 -- Wins in a row by the Lake Clifton boys basketball team. It is the longest current streak for a boys team in the metro area