You could feel the intensity in Western's sold-out gym last night as the Doves took on rival City in a battle of Baltimore City teams who were unbeaten in the division. Instead of turning it up a notch, Western turned the intensity down in the second half, and the result was a 54-44 win in a Baltimore City league game.
Western (18-3, 12-0) was the more athletic team all night, but the Doves were their own worst enemies in the first half. After numerous missed layups and poor rebounding led to an 18-17 halftime deficit, Western coach Tiffany Silver told her team to settle down during the break.
"I told them to go out and have fun," she said. "The things we were doing wrong were all things that we had control over. We were so pumped up mentally [in the first half] that we were not executing."
The win gives the No. 8 Doves control of Baltimore City's Division II and a likely berth in the city championship game.
Akeema Richards (15 rebounds) led Western with 18 points, while LaShay Taft led the fourth-ranked Knights with 14.
Western traded baskets early in the second half, but then the Doves' defense and rebounding began to take over. Trailing 22-21 with 6:17 left in the third quarter, the Doves went on an 8-0 run to take a 29-22 lead with 2:12 left in the quarter. During that span, Western held the Knights scoreless for 5:24.
"We played as a team a little bit more. We got more hungry on defense, and it took them out of their game," said Doves guard Keirah Hicks (nine points). "The adrenaline was really flowing in the first half, and there was no one who didn't have a rush. We just harnessed it better in the second half."
The Knights (17-2, 9-1) fought back to cut the deficit to 32-29 on a three-pointer by Taft with 6:26 left in the game, but Western went on an 11-4 run over the next 2:21 to take a 43-33 lead with 4:05 left and put the game away.
Knights coach George Petrides said Western's speed was the difference in the second half.
"They outran us," he said. "They were able to get the ball up the court better."