Seton Keough's basketball team has struggled much of this winter to put all the parts of its game together, but everything meshed in the first half Wednesday night against No. 2 Archbishop Spalding.
The No. 9 Gators took a 12-2 lead, ran the margin as high as 21 and held off a late Cavaliers rally for a 65-47 home victory in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game.
Amber Singletary had the hot hand early, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers in the opening run. Then the Gators' inside game took over with 6-foot forward Achiri Ade and 6-foot-4 center Liz Brown giving the smaller Cavaliers fits in the paint. Ade finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Brown had eight of each.
"Singletary got hot early, and when she gets hot you can't gamble as much," Spalding coach Bookie Rosemond said. "When she starts hitting those 3-pointers, you've got to come up on her, and that leaves the middle open for Achiri."
The Cavaliers (18-3, 8-2 conference) won the first meeting, 59-42, on Dec. 18, but Wednesday night, they got few shots to fall early and hit just 30 percent for the game. Some of that could certainly be attributed to a more aggressive Gators defense this time.
The defending A Conference tournament champions ran their lead to 33-12 late in the first half on an eight-point run in which Ade scored all the points.
"We were playing as a team," Ade said. "We were concentrating not on ourselves but on coming together just to win the game. We had good chemistry on the court. It has taken awhile to get that chemistry. We lost three players from last year, and now people who didn't have to step up last year, they have to step up and it's a whole different role that we have to play."
In the second half, Spalding played much more aggressively, slowing the Gators (11-9, 5-4) with its press and giving Ade, who fouled out with 2:36 to go, and Brown fewer opportunities.
The Cavaliers cut the lead to 53-43 when Shaquila Curtis fed Sherae Swinson and then Camille Calhoun hit two free throws with two minutes to go.
Rosemond then had the Cavaliers start fouling, but Brianna Harrison, Aja Walpher and Rhianna Frazer combined to hit 12 of 14 free throws over the next 1:24.
AS-Freeland 1, Swinson 8, Curtis 11, Morrison 4, Calhoun 10, Makins 11, Griffiths 2. Totals: 17 12-20 47.
SK-Frazer 3, Singletary 10, Walpher 11, Ade 16, Brown 8, Harrison 7, Hines 10. Totals: 22 18-22 65. Half: SK, 35-15.
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