Seton Keough's B.J. Williams had the fans gasping early in the second quarter yesterday when she twisted her left ankle and had to be helped off the court.
Ten minutes later, she had them cheering again. The senior guard dazzled the crowd with a series of nifty moves to lead the No. 1 Gators as they pulled away from No. 15 McDonogh for a 61-43 victory in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference semifinal.
The host Gators, who last won the title in 2000, will meet five-time defending champion St. Frances for the crown tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Villa Julie. The No. 2 Panthers defeated visiting Archbishop Spalding, 56-44, in yesterday's other semifinal.
Seton Keough (26-3) struggled early against a determined McDonogh team that stayed close, cutting what had been a nine-point Gators lead to 31-27 on Ali Brennan's basket with 4:29 left in the third quarter.
Then Williams, an All-Metro selection as a sophomore, sparked a 10-3 Gators run. She scored six in the spurt and had eight of her 14 points in the quarter.
"You've got to give it to B.J., because she has a lot of experience and she stepped up," McDonogh coach Tom Gizzi said. "When she wanted to break the game open, she got to the rim. She found ways to score and that's all about being a senior leader."
Annie Politsch led the Eagles (15-11) with 13 points.
At St. Frances, the Panthers (24-3) ended the third quarter with 14 unanswered points, turning a nine-point deficit into a 40-35 lead.
Strong half-court defense and offensive rebounding sparked the run.
"We knew we didn't play to our level in the first half, and we kind of took them for granted. So we knew we had to cut it out, shut it down, and that's exactly what we did," said junior forward Raizel Benn, who led the Panthers with 12 points.
The Cavaliers (19-8) took a 30-26 halftime lead when senior guard Christine Nairn (12 points) converted a half-court steal into a layup with three seconds left.
Spalding got a three-pointer from Maggie Morrison and two free throws from Janay Brinkley to build a 35-26 lead with 5:48 to play in the third, but they wouldn't score any more points the rest of quarter.
Benn accounted for eight of the 14 points in the Panthers' run, and they stayed in control in the fourth quarter to advance.
katherine.dunn@baltsun.com
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