With back-to-back victories this week, Marriotts Ridge has manufactured its first win streak of the season. The Mustangs defeated Atholton, 48-29, at home Friday night.
The game was Marriotts Ridge's Pink in the Paint night, a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.
Marriotts Ridge wore its pink uniforms and both teams wore pink T-shirts; the Atholton players also had pink socks.
Marriotts Ridge jumped out to a quick start, leading 13-8 at the end of the first quarter and forcing Atholton to play catch-up the rest of the game.
"We took the first quarter to wake up," said Atholton coach Julia Reynold. "We didn't start out like we normally start out. We didn't make our layups and they capitalized on our turnovers and missed layups."
"Our team effort was pretty good," said Atholton's Jackie Palmer, who led her team with eight points. "It was just the little mistakes that we made. …We played hard the whole time, but our shots were not falling."
If Atholton did not play the first quarter like it is used to, Marriotts Ridge did not play the third quarter it has come to regret.
"There was no third-quarter burnout," Marriotts Ridge coach Kristen Reier said.
"We played a stronger second half than normal," agreed Nicole Grote, one of two seniors on Marriotts Ridge's team. "We have a young team and we're athletic, but we struggle with the whole shooting thing."
The Mustangs put up 60 points the first time they beat Atholton this season, but Friday night they were concentrating more on defense.
Reier said she was looking for the scrappy defense her team played against Glenelg, and she got it.
Jenna Bergquist led the Mustangs' scoring with 12 points; Zoe Stukenberg was right behind with 10 points. Jenna Kerr hit a three-pointer just before the final buzzer sounded. In all, 10 Mustangs scored.
While Marriotts Ridge has a morale-boosting pair of home victories, Atholton is still looking to put some more marks in its win column.
The Raiders, with just two-county victories, are on a four-game losing streak.
"We're right there," Reynold said. "We just need to work on the execution. We've got the right idea, it's just learning to work together."
Marriotts Ridge 48, Atholton 29
MR - Bergquist 12, Stukenberg 10, Kerr 6, Grote 3, Keefe 3, Davey 3, Taylor 3, Sharbaugh 2, Fleming 2, Miller 2. FT: 18-28.
A - Palmer 8, Vitagliano 6, Keating 4, Weinberg 3, Pattillo 2, Caldwell 2, Mitchell 2, Tatum 2. FT: 7-12.
Halftime: Marriotts Ridge, 22-13.
Howard 31, Reservoir 29
Howard has extended its win streak to six games, but Reservoir did not make it easy.
Howard led the entire game, including by eight points with less than a minute to play. Reservoir's Megan Fowler and Jasmine Pickens knocked down 3-point shots in the final 20 seconds to cut the lead to two points with 1.3 seconds to play.
In the last two minutes of the game, Howard's April Kuhn was 2-for-2 from the foul line and Anne Kinsey was 3-for-4.
Ho - Kuhn 8, Kinsey 6, Butler 6, Robinson 5, Hoesman 2, Natoli 2, Randazzo 2. FT: 9-15.
Re - Massaquoi 10, Fowler 8, Pickens 7, Johnson 2, Thompson 2. FT: 5-10.
Halftime: Howard, 21-12.
Oakland Mills 79, Wilde Lake 30
OM - Hill 16, Twardowicz 14, Diggs 14, Hight 13, Jones 8, Tullis 4, Thompson 3, Goodman 3, Witherspoon 2, Peters 2. FT: 8-13.
WL - Richardson 8, Williams 7, Corbett 6, Harrison 5, Babturk 2, Bialek 2. FT: 6-18.
Halftime: Oakland Mills, 43-20.
Glenelg 78, Hammond 12
Emily Russo scored all of her 11 points in the first quarter and Kristin Yuan had all of her 10 points in the fourth quarter as Glenelg defeated Hammond. Glenelg hit 10 3-point shots in the game. Elisa Tetro included three of them in her 11 points.
Aneta Hejnova was Hammond's top scorer with five points.
G – Burris 11, Tetro 11, Russo 11, Yuan 10, Taylor 8, Wright 8, Heisig 6, Bendix 5, Kittleman 5, Parker 3. FT: 4-8.
Ha – Hejnova 5, Griffin 3, Conley 2, Philips 2. FT: 2-4.
Halftime: Glenelg, 38-8.
Centennial 53, Long Reach 48
River Hill plays at Mt. Hebron, Saturday at 7 p.m., in the Hall of Fame game.
This story has been updated.