Defending Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference champion Notre Dame Prep's full-court press was the key component of a 43-22 rout of A Conference member Mercy on Wednesday night.
To make matters worse for the Magic (1-5), NDP's half-court defense was also very effective in the victory.
"I wasn't so concerned about their press," said Mercy coach Mary Ella Marion. "We just couldn't score. You can't score two points in a quarter and expect to beat very many teams."
The coach was alluding to the second quarter when sophomore Kristina Bayton's stick-back produced the only points in the period for Mercy before the Blazers (3-2) went on a 17-0 run to grab a 24-11 advantage early in the third quarter.
And it's not like the Magic had much more success in the third period, considering sophomore Sierra Davis and reserve Shannon Aikins accounted for its only points while NDP was scoring at a steady clip while building a 39-15 margin heading into the final quarter.
The Blazers scored almost every way imaginable during the middle quarters, including put-backs (Brenda Tester and point guard Sydney Tommins), fastbreaks (Tommins), drives (Angela Healy, Tommins), three-pointers (Sarah Kasun, Becky Felmeister) and turnarounds (Healy).
Even though NDP did not shoot particularly well, its offensive rebounding garnered enough extra chances to make its poor marksmanship less of a factor.
"We couldn't get into our press early because we weren't scoring" said Notre Dame Prep coach Katie Marks, whose team trailed, 7-2, midway through the opening quarter. "Then we settled down. Sometimes it takes us awhile to figure out we can deal with the other team."
Both squads will hit the holiday tournament circuit: the Blazers will are slated to meet Surrattsville, Dunbar and North Harford in the McDonogh tourney while Mercy will take on Poly in the opener of a similar event at Milford Mill Academy.
Scoring summary:
NDP (43)-Sydney Tommins, 12; Mattie Milching, 2; Hannah Hartman, 2; Sarah Kasun, 6; Becky Felmeister, 3; Angela Healy, 8; Brenda Tester, 4; Claire Ford, 6
Mercy (22)-Kristina Bayton, 2; Sierra Davis, 8; Sam Hruz, 2; Lindsey Berg, 2; Ilysa Lewis, 1; Shannon Aikins, 5; Jillian Baker, 1; Kayla Hicks, 1