When Roland Park upset St. Frances on Dec. 11, Panthers senior Briana Hutchen was home with the flu. After she found out about the loss, she vowed to get well and stay that way.
Hutchen has been on the court for every one of the No. 3 Panthers' nine straight wins since then, including a stellar 26-point, 17-rebound performance in Friday night's 57-36 win at No. 1 Archbishop Spalding in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game.
"Since [the loss to Roland Park], this fire has started to come into me," Hutchen said. "My team needs me and I'm going to make sure I don't get sick again this winter. I just knew that as a team unit, no one could beat us."
The Cavaliers, coming off a win over No. 2 Roland Park on Wednesday, had won 12 straight games and they pushed the Panthers (11-2, 5-1 conference) down to the final minutes.
Maggie Morrison's 15-footer capped a 6-0 run to open the fourth quarter, putting the Cavaliers (13-2, 5-1) on top, 41-40, with 4:49 to go. But the Panthers answered with a six-point run of their own on Chelsea Dukes' follow shot, Imani Kassama's layup and Shatyra Hawkes' pull-up jumper.
Lauren Calhoun capped a three-point play to get the Cavaliers back to within 46-44, but Spalding then missed two shots and Hutchen grabbed the rebound off the second and fed Hawkes for a break-away layup and a 48-44 lead with 1:03 to go.
"I just remember thinking we've got to get a quick score," said Hutchen, "and, of course, Tyra was running down the floor. I saw her, so I passed the ball to her. I knew she would score."
After that, seniors Hutchen and Hawkes combined to hit nine of 11 free throws to seal the win.
For the Cavaliers, who have not beaten St. Frances since February 2002 when they went on to win the A Conference tournament championship, Morrison led the way with 14 points.
The Cavaliers' biggest lead was 13-5 after scoring 13 straight in the first quarter, but the Panthers rallied back to within 13-12 as Hutchen scored 11 of her points in the first quarter. To open the second half, she kicked the ball out to Kassama for a 3-pointer that gave the Panthers a lead they held until the fourth quarter.
"As you can see, they have some senior leadership that we don't," said Morrison, whose team has no seniors. "We rushed the ball a few times. We didn't work it on offense and run the play that we were supposed to. Granted, they're a very tough, high-intensity, very good defensive team. It's hard to score against them and the ball didn't roll our way tonight."
SF-Hawkes 13, Dukes 10, Hutchen 26, Harmon 4, Britt 4. Totals 20 14-18 57.
AS-Swinson 6, Curtis 9, Morrison 14, Calhoun 7, Freeland 2, Makins 4, Chestnut 2, Epps 2. Totals 18 10-19 46. Half: SF, 25-20.