McDonogh guard Kolbi Green could not have had more ice in her veins during Sunday night's Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference basketball final if she had spent the entire frigid day outside.
With the defending champion and No. 1 Eagles trailing No. 2 Roland Park, 50-47, with no time left on the clock, Green stepped to the free-throw line and calmly nailed three shots to force overtime before a raucous standing-room-only crowd at Stevenson University.
The rejuvenated Eagles, who closed a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter, went on to win 59-52 for their third A Conference title in four years and their second straight over the Reds.
Green, a sophomore who had already hit three 3-pointers in the game, tried to tie it with another one from the corner just as time expired in regulation but was fouled. The biggest game of the season, between the only teams that have been No. 1 or No. 2 all winter, came down to her free throws.
"I prayed to God that he would get me through it, and He did," said Green, whose emotionless facial expression never changes on the court. "All I can say [about the comeback] is we wanted it more."
All smiles after the game while clutching the championship plaque, Green said she had a little experience with game-winning free throws. When she was 7, she hit two to win a game in her first trip to a national tournament.
Sunday night, her teammates had the utmost confidence in her.
"We work on these free throws every day in practice," said Eagles senior guard Dajah Logan, "and our punishment is we've got to run, so I was like, 'I know she remembers all those times we had to run.'
"But we have so much trust in everybody on our team that when she walked up to the line I said, 'This is easy. We're going back out there.' It wasn't over."
Just two seconds earlier, it looked like it was over and that Roland Park (21-5) would be on its way to its first IAAM basketball title.
Michala Clay capped a 6-2 run for the Reds with a couple of free throws for the 50-47 lead with two seconds to go. After each coach took a timeout, Roland Park guard Ryan Holder stole the long inbounds pass at midcourt but stepped over the sideline. That gave coach Brad Rees' Eagles (25-3) another chance, and Taleah Dixon passed the ball in to Green for her 3-point shot from the corner.
Overtime went almost completely McDonogh's way.
Logan, who finished with 18 points, hit two free throws and drove the baseline for a layup in the first minute. After McDonogh point guard Danielle Edwards, last season's All-Metro Player of the Year who scored 15 points, hit a free throw, her cousin Lindsey Edwards nailed a runner for Roland Park to cut the lead to 55-52 with 1:55 left. But the Reds would not score again.
The teams split their regular-season meetings and the final figured to be close. After six ties and six lead changes in the first half, the Reds used their defensive intensity to build a nine-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Jaia Alexander, who finished with 17 points, hit a 3-pointer and Jeydah Johnson hit two free throws to end the third quarter with a 42-33 advantage for Roland Park.
Reds coach Scott Buckley wanted to contain the Eagles' 3-point shooters in the fourth quarter, but Logan, Dixon and Danielle Edwards each hit one with Edwards' shot from the top giving McDonogh a 45-44 lead that they fed off even though the Reds came back to take a 50-47 lead.
"I think we made a nice spurt and we kind of relaxed a little bit and let them come right back at us," Buckley said. "We were saying that nobody was going to give it to us. We had to take it. We put ourselves in a very good position to win the game and the ending was unfortunate."
C CONFERENCE: Garrison Forest completed its sweep of conference opponents with a 36-18 victory over Mount Carmel for the C Conference championship at Stevenson.
The Grizzlies, who got 13 points and 12 rebounds from Marina Lazarides, finished 20-1 with their only loss to B Conference foe St. Timothy's. Tae Edmondson scored 15 for Mount Carmel (18-7).
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IAAM championships
A Conference
1 McDonogh 59, 2 Roland Park 52
M—D.Edwards 15, Green 13, Logan 18, Ja.Johnson 6, Dixon 7. 17 19-30 59.
RP—Alexander 17, L.Edwards 10.Je.Johnson 7, Holder 2, Clay 9, Whitehurst 5, Hauser 2. 20 9-19 52.
Half: 24-24. End of reg. 50-50.