Eagles wrest lead, win 11th game in row
Dixon scores 18 points to help McDonogh come back for victory at Roland Park
To McDonogh senior Taleah Dixon, rankings are just numbers.
Even though Roland Park earned a national girls basketball ranking as high as No. 14 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 heading into the new year, the Eagles didn’t think much about that Wednesday. They just went to Roland Park and turned a 10-point deficit late in the second quarter into a 53-45 victory.
“We’re not in the [national] rankings at all,” Dixon said. “We’re in The Baltimore Sun rankings. We’re No. 2 — St. Frances is No. 1 obviously — but that doesn’t matter to us. We’re coming to win regardless of whether they’re No. 1 or they’re No. 50. We’re just coming to win.”
Dixon, a senior guard headed for Loyola, led the Eagles (11-1) with18 points as they improved to 3-0 in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Con- ference. They’ve won 11 straight since a season-opening loss to nationally ranked Hamilton Heights, Tenn., which has also beaten Roland Park.
The No. 3 Reds (13-3, 2-1) were coming off a loss to nationally ranked Long Island Lutheran on Sunday, but they had the upper hand early against McDonogh, running their lead to 10 in a first half that featured seven ties. Ja’Niah Henson’s steal and layup gave the Reds a 25-15 lead with 2:08 left in the half.
However, with the toughest Roland Park player for the Eagles to match up