Roland Park coach Scott Buckley says his team knows one speed: fast. But Roland Park's players decided to slow things up in the third quarter against host Severn Wednesday and as a result, the Reds struggled.
They scored only five points as a 15-point lead dwindled to eight.
Roland Park, however, picked up the tempo down the stretch and cruised to a 46-26 victory in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game.
"You take away the third quarter and I thought we played pretty well," Buckley said. "We kind of had a lack of energy in the third quarter and I think that let them back in the game. The biggest reason was we stopped running and we started walking the ball up the floor."
Roland Park's Daisy Alaeze and Michala Clay shared scoring honors with 15 points apiece. Each player also grabbed 13 rebounds.
Alexa Kunowsky led Severn with nine points.
Roland Park (9-7 overall, 4-3) held a 15-4 lead after one quarter, but the margin grew to as many as 16 points in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, the Reds led 30-15 with 4:43 when Christa sank a free throw. Severn (8-7, 1-4), though, went on an 8-1 run to make it 31-23 at the end of the third quarter.
Then in the final period, Roland Park started quickly and used an 8-0 to pull away. The Admirals made only one of 18 shots in the final period.
"We have a hard time scoring," Severn coach Chuck Miller said. "When we get down by 15 points, its very difficult for us to come back. We were getting good shots and good lucks. We just weren't hitting them."