The 3-point shot, which is usually the bread-and-butter of Glenelg's offense, eluded the Gladiators Wednesday night against Oakland Mills. Glenelg hit just 1 of 16 trey attempts, but it was an important one.
"We're a three strong 3-point shooting team but we weren't hitting it tonight," said Glenelg's Emily Russo. The only three of the evening is included in Russo's game-high 27 points and it came with Glenelg trailing, 40-36.
"I'm not one of the best 3-point shooters on the team, but it was such a relief that it went in," she said. Her shot made the score, 40-39, in Oakland Mills' favor, but she soon hit a pair of free throws to put Glenelg in front, 41-40, with 1:43 left in the game.
Oakland Mills' opportunities to win the game were limited by Glenelg's defensive play.
"Their press through us off," said Oakland Mills' Kara Hight. "They caught us off guard. We couldn't really get into our own press break."
"Our guards Alyssa (Parker), Danielle (Burris), Sam (Heisig) and Mary (Kittleman) were all pressuring very well and it was when they forced a double team that I was able to get the steal," Russo said.
She had four consecutive steals in the last 90 seconds and may have made the play of the game when she forced a jump ball with Oakland Mills' Jasmine Hill, who was driving to the basket, with 17.5 on the clock.
"I was praying that they weren't going to call a foul on me, because she's a heck of a free throw shooter," Russo said. "It could have gone either way, but you've got to take chances when it is late in the game."
Glenelg had the possession arrow on the jump ball.
Oakland Mills had two fouls to give, but Glenelg was able to run time off the clock. Parker went to the free throw line with 4 seconds left. She missed the front end of her one-and-one, Hill grabbed the rebound, but not securely enough, and the ball went over the sideline to end the game.
"That's a big win," said Glenelg coach Don Beall.
Beall said his team focused on getting rebounds. Oakland Mills outrebounded Glenelg, 42-23, the last time they played.
"We wanted to limit them to one shot," Beall said. "We played so much better than last time."
"They did a really good job of boxing out," Hight said.
Glenelg entered the game on top of the county standings with a one-game lead over Oakland Mills and River Hill. Oakland Mills' loss drops the Scorpions into third.
Glenelg 43, Oakland Mills 41
G - Russo 27, Burris 7, Heisig 6, Parker 2, Kittleman 1. FT: 6-12.
OM - Hill 15, Jones 10, Hight 6, Twardowicz 6, Thompson 4. FT: 7-11
Halftime: Glenelg, 26-25.
Marriotts Ridge 41, Centennial 39
Sophomore Kali Taylor came off the bench to score the game tying — a pair of free throws — and game winning points — a basket with three seconds to play. Taylor had just six points in the game.
"Kali is a second-year varsity player, but she's really come alive this season," said Marriotts Ridge coach Kristen Reier.
While Taylor may be the game's heroine, it was a team effort, Reier said.
MR - Grote 8, Stukenberg 7, Bergquist 7, Taylor 6, Fleming 4, Davey 4, Miller 3, Kerr 2. FT: 12-15.
C - Rockefeller 9, Downing 8, Benzing 7, Mitchell 6, Pino 5, Eads 4. FT: 4-12.
Halftime: Marriotts Ridge, 31-23.
Howard 53, Atholton 27
April Kuhn had 18 points as Howard picked up its fifth consecutive victory.
Ho - Kuhn 18, Butler 8, Kinsey 7, Biniak 6, Natoli 3, Hoesman 3, Randazzo 2, Doermann 2, Robinson 2, Rayner 2. FT: 19-37.
A - Palmer 10, Keating 6, Mayhew 5, Weinberg 2, Hart 2, Caldwell. FT: 5-6.
Halftime: Howard, 26-11.
Reservoir 63, Hammond 21
Candace Johnson came off the bench to record a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), as the Reservoir defeated Hammond.
"It's the best game she's had all season," said Reservoir coach Kyle Sullivan.
Other Gator highlights included Keri Rager's nine steals, Megan Fowler's five assists and six steals, and Taylor Harrington's nine rebounds.
Keyuana Griffin led Hammond with 10 points.
Re - Johnson 13, Fowler 12, Thompson 10, Rager 8, Massaquoi 5, Bonner 5, Bartley 4, Pickens 3, Bartley 3.
Ha - Griffin 10, Phillips 2, Conley 2, Hejnova 2, Khoury 2, Hewitt 1.
Mt. Hebron 60, Wilde Lake 28
MH - Thomas 12, Rochester 9, Tavai 9, Jones 8, Doherty 6, Crump 5, Konig 5, Kelliher 3, Vogan 3. FT: 7-15.
WL - Richardson 11, Harrison 10, Corbett 4, Babturk 4. FT: 8-14.
Halftime: Mt. Hebron, 29-16.
River Hill 55, Long Reach 28
Jenna Collins and Megan Sterling each scored 11 points and Alauna Jackson chipped in 10 as River Hill defeated Long Reach. The Lightning got 10 points each from Imani Sanders and Alana Ratliffe.
RH - Jenna Collins 11, Sterling 11, Jackson 10, Rowe 8, Arensmeier 8, Julia Collins 5, Masker 2. FT: 17-28.
LR - Sanders 10, Ratliffe 10, Callan 4, Briscoe 2, Romero 2. FT: 2-3.
County standings (as of Feb. 1)
Glenelg, 13-1
River Hill, 12-2
Oakland Mills, 11-3
Howard, 10-4
Long Reach, 9-5
Reservoir, 9-5
Mt. Hebron, 8-6
Centennial, 5-9
Marriotts Ridge, 4-10
Atholton, 2-12
Hammond, 1-13
Wilde Lake, 0-14