No. 1 Gaels rally past visiting Goretti, 60-51
For No. 1 Mount Saint Joseph basketball, the first half Monday against visiting St. Maria Goretti didn’t meet the typical standard.
Poor defense and settling for jumpers on offense helped the visitors gain a quick double-digit advantage that stuck throughout the first half.
But Mount Saint Joseph had a second half to make amends, and with pressure defense combined with a concerted effort to attack the basket on offense, it found its way. Senior forward Tyonne Farrell scored a game-high 23 points and junior guard Jordan Brathwaite added 16 in leading the Gaels to a 60-51 win over Goretti in Baltimore Catholic League play.
Mount Saint Joseph improves to 27-4 overall and 10-1 in the BCL, while Goretti falls to 14-13 and 6-5.
“We put pressure on the ball, which I think gets you going a bit offensively,” Mount Saint Joseph coach Pat Clatchey said. “And then they had some guys in foul trouble, so we told our guys in the second half that we needed to attack the basketball. We need to create some offense with our defense and attack the basket instead of settling for jump shots. That’s basically what we did.”
Behind five 3-pointers in the first half — the last one from Rafael Barcinas with eight seconds left in the second quarter — Goretti went into the break with a 31-21 lead.
With amped-up defense and assertive play from Farrell, the home team quickly erased that lead with dominant play in the third quarter. The host Gaels opened on a 9-0 run — a three-point play from Farrell cut the deficit to 31-30 and the All-Metro standout scored five more points before Joe Green’s free throw gave them their first lead since the opening minute at 40-39.
Leading 45-44 midway through the fourth quarter, Brathwaite made three straight baskets, closing with a driving layup followed by a steal and layup that made it 51-44 with 3:11 to play. Continuing to attack the basket, Mount Saint Joseph sealed the win at the foul line, making 16 of 22 for the game.
“We just wanted to come out and execute, move the ball and defend in the second half — those are our values. So we made one more pass to a teammate, played some defense, played with energy and we came out with the win,” Brathwaite said.
For Goretti, this is the 40th and final season in the BCL with the Hagerstown school closing after the school year. Also named the Gaels, they have nine players on the roster which leaves little margin for error. Standout forward Caleb Embeya, who scored 13 points to share team-high honors with Trn, battled* foul trouble for much of the game.
The gutsy performance wasn’t enough on Monday.
“Our guys are giving us tremendous effort. After the news about the school closing, I had six or seven kids transfer out, leaving us with nine players,” Goretti coach Sidney McCray said. “I can’t ask for better kids than what I got right now. They’re competing hard every day, they’re not complaining, they’re not focusing on our situation with the school. They’re just giving me everything they got.
“I think St. Joe did a good job making their run, especially putting the press on us. We didn’t do a good job handling it and we had a bunch of turnovers, so kudos to them.”
Mount Saint Joseph returns to the court at 6 p.m. Wednesday with a home game against McDonogh. Goretti hosts Archbishop Spalding at 6 p.m. Friday.
Girls basketball South River 36, Broadneck 34:
The irony that two Skylar Woodyard free throws saved South River girls basketball against
Broadneck on Monday was not lost on the coaches afterward.
To that point, the No. 5 Seahawks only made 2 of 11 attempts. It was uncharacteristic of a Seahawks team that’s rolled through Anne Arundel County like an empire, but such was a fitting ending to South River’s most out-of-character game of the season.
The South River girls returned for the last quarter of basketball to beat No. 9 Broadneck, 36-34, and claim the top spot of the county standings for themselves. After three lifeless frames, including a scoreless second quarter, South River jolted to life, outscoring their earlier versions with 19 points in eight minutes.
The comeback began with words. The Seahawks (17-1) entered Monday’s tilt knowing full well that a loss to Broadneck, which was also unbeaten in county play and hadn’t lost since December, could make them vulnerable to missing the county championship. That pressure, coach and players agree, might have unsettled the mindset they needed to face this game.
“I feel like you have to be a psychiatrist and talk them out of their heads. Sometimes, we’re our own worst enemy,” South River coach Mike Zivic said.
The next step to the comeback was a freshman named Cami Burke.
She toed the line and fired a 3-pointer before Bruins could crash into her. The screams that followed signaled the rally like the crack of a starting gun.
“The energy had been high. I just felt like we needed it,” Burke said. “It didn’t feel real.”
South River tied Broadneck (15-2) at 20 just moments into the fourth quarter. Woodyard drained a 3-pointer while Burke and Karlee Hawkins hit layups.
Suddenly, after 24 minutes of very effective Broadneck defense combined with poor shooting, the Seahawks could not miss, taking a 27-20 lead.
“Our confidence got up,” Burke said, “and we were playing as a team more.”
After the 10-0 run, Broadneck responded with a 3-pointer, but the Seahawks punched back. It was not until South River led 34-26 with a minute left that the Seahawks really tripped into trouble.
Sophomore Brianna Snowden turned a steal into a layup and Summer Stroop hit a 3-pointer to get the Bruins within 34-31. But Broadneck couldn’t seize its opportunity before Woodyard went to the foul line to hit two clinching free throws.
Down by five, senior Samantha Miller sunk a trey right as the game ended.
— Katherine Fominykh Reservoir 45, Mt. Hebron 27:
There are ups and downs in any basketball season.
Reservoir girls basketball started the year out strong, winning six of its first seven games. However, the Gators then hit a rut, losing four of their next five.
Reservoir needed a reset. To combat what coach Deb Taylor saw as some complacency, she and her assistants began holding the girls accountable, pushing them to work harder in practice.
Another winning streak commenced.
Reservoir won its fifth in a row Monday night, beating Mt. Hebron, 45-27. The recent streak also includes wins over Glen Burnie and Howard, last year’s Class 4A and 3A state champions, respectively.
Reservoir (12-5, 10-5 Howard County) held Mt. Hebron without a field goal for the opening seven minutes and just two first-quarter points. Defense fueled an offense led by Gabi Burian (11 points) and Jasmin Shelton (12 points), who built an 11-point lead after the first quarter.
Burian, Shelton and Alissa Young, three of Reservoir’s most experienced players, spearheaded that defensive effort. The Gators’ bench helped provide an offensive spark in the second quarter with Paige Malwitz, Leah Lauer and Chloe-Teresa Nguena scoring baskets. Their collective effort helped Reservoir mount a 13-point halftime lead.
— Jacob Steinberg Bel Air 55, Joppatowne 37:
No two nights are the same for Bel Air girls basketball.
The strength of the Bobcats is in their flexibility. The defensive-minded team leans heavily on protecting that end of the floor until their offense can get into rhythm. But on down nights for the defense, they seek out top scorers to carry the load.
“Our rally cry all year has been ‘Survive the Night,'” Bel Air coach Calvin Skelton said. “That’s what we say in all of our huddles. Just survive the night.”
In a 55-37 road win over Joppatowne, that’s exactly what they had to do. They lived up to a phrase born out of necessity, Skelton said, encapsulating their season with playoffs on the horizon.
— Sam Cohn
Wilde Lake 33, Long Reach 30
Glenelg 47, Marriotts Ridge 29
Southern 59, Western Tech 13
St. Frances 67, St. Mary’s 59
South Carroll 55, Century 46
North Harford 44, C. Milton Wright 40