Pallotti cruises past Mount de Sales
Panthers roll in girls basketball; McDonogh, Loyola earn hoops victories
The St. Vincent Pallotti girls basketball team didn’t have any players in double figures, but they did have six players with at least five points, while host Mount de Sales (0-1) had two players in double figures, but it was the defense of the Panthers (2-0) that helped them cruise to a 24-point lead early in the fourth quarter of their 46-36 victory on Friday night.
Mount de Sales, finalists in the past two Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference tournaments, got 22 points from Kristen Zaranski and 14 points from Rachel Krug, but nobody else on the Sailors scored.
“I’m just shocked how we started that game,” Mount de Sales coach Trish Armstrong said. “They just couldn’t shoot.”
The only field goal in the first quarter for the Sailors came on a 3-pointer by Krug.
The other two points were free throws by Zaranski.
Meanwhile, the Panthers, who play in the IAAM A Conference, took a 10-5 lead at the first break on five field goals from five different players.
The first four were on layups; by Jania Hall (seven points), Jadmine Valentine (eight points, 12 rebounds), Tahlia BrownStangherlin (five points, seven rebounds, three steals) and Nhaikia Smith (nine points) and the fifth bucket was a 12-footer by Lindsay Thweatt (nine points) with 34 seconds left.
Mount de Sales continue to struggle shooting and they committed turnovers in the second quarter, but they only trailed by nine, 18-9 with a minute left after a perimeter basket by Zaranski.
That’s when junior veteran BrownStangerlin took over.
The 5-foot-10 forward hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds left in the half.
With 15 seconds left, she got an offensive rebound and made a nifty pass to
Valentine for a layup and she assisted Thweatt for another chippie with five seconds left to give the Panthers a 26-9 halftime lead.
“We tried to turn them over and create some things in transition and that was really our game plan,” Pallotti coach Joe Matthews said.
“That was a good little run and I think we had one somewhere in that second half.”
A free throw by Nia Thweatt (three points) gave the Panthers their last largest lead at 42-19 with 6:29 left in the fourth quarter.
Mount de Sales closed by outscoring the visitors 17-4 in the final 6:10.
Krug had 11 points in the fourth quarter, including two three-pointers, and Zaranski hit two treys and had nine points in the final quarter.
“We are a team that can score 60 points,” said Armstrong, who praised Pallotti’s defense. “It (pressure defense) was very good. It was constant. That’s probably the best defense we’ve seen all season.”
Matthews was glad to see his defense overcome spotty outside shooting from his team in the first half.
INDIAN CREEK 54, SEVERN 33: Maddy Evans scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Eagles (3-0) past the Admirals (0-1) at the Eagle Classic at Annapolis Area Christian. Indian Creek led 26-8 in the first half. Jenn Pongnon had 13 points for Severn.
Boys basketball
MCDONOGH 47, GERSTELL ACADEMY 46: Freshman Everett Cooper scored the go-ahead basket to lift the Eagle (3-0) over the host Falcons (1-3). Cooper went 4-for-7 from the field, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range and 0-for-2 from the line for 10 points. Drew Green led McDonogh with 13 points and Dave Brown had 13 points.
CALVERT HALL 59, JOHN CARROLL 58, OT: Jaiden Jakubowski scored18 points, but the host Patriots (0-3) fell to the Cardinals (2-1).
LOYOLA BLAKEFIELD 61, MOUNT CARMEL 48: The host Dons (4-2) ended a two-game losing streak by beating the Cougars (0-4). Loyola, led by Matt Fischer with 19 points, took a 32-21 lead at the half and led by as many as19 points in the second half. Brendan Fox had 11 points and Tryllian Young had 10 points for the Dons.
Football
QUINCE ORCHARD 40, NORTH POINT 33: The Cougars (13-1) took a 20-13 lead with 1:40 left in the first half and that momentum carried over into the second half as they beat the Eagles (13-1) in the Class 4A state championship at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Quince Orchard’s Kevon Carter-Hackey had a 70-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown to give the Cougars a 33-13 lead with 6:59 left in the third quarter.
Baltimore Sun staff contributed to this article.