Defense pulls Comets out of tailspin, into state final
The Catonsville girls trailed by 14 points at halftime to Bethesda-Chevy Chase in the Class 4A girls state semifinals and the defending state champion Comets were shooting 18.2 percent (6-for-33) from the field.
But the Comets didn’t panic. They came out and played smothering full-court defense and started hitting more shots (18-for-40) and they outscored the Barons by 26 points in the second half and emerged with a 63-51 victory at Towson University’s SECU Arena.
The Comets (23-3) will play Eleanor Roosevelt in the state championship game Saturday at 3 p.m.
Jasmine Dickey led the Comets with 30 points and 17 rebounds, but she didn’t start getting her offensive groove until the second half when she scored 24 points.
“I don’t really know what was going on in the first half, but we picked it up in the second half,” said Dickey, who has 2,068 career points.
Bethesda coach Ryan Ingalis knew what was happening in the first half when the Barons’ lead got as big as 17 after two free throws by Caroline Orza made it 25-8 with 5:21 left in the half.
“In the first half, we were playing team defense and team offense and looking up at the scoreboard I wasn’t surprised,” Ingalis said.
Catonsville coach Mike Mohler cer- tainly was surprised.
“There wasn’t any rebel-rousing halftime speech. It was guys, I’m looking at a team I haven’t seen since ever, not this year,” Mohler said. “We were doing things uncharacteristically. Our passing was atrocious. Our defense was atrocious. We were just letting people get open. They got eight points alone just on people we were just not guarding.”
The Barons (21-5) got eight points in the first half from senior Caitlyn Clendenin, who finished with a team-high 22 points and 11 rebounds.
“We knew it was going to be a competitive game. But we really wanted to be the aggressor the first half and we wanted to make sure we got them up and down the court and it kind of flipped and they were becoming the aggressor,” said Catonsville senior Jameila Barrett, who finished with 15 points. “We weren’t getting back on defense and they were just getting a whole bunch of transition points.”
Catonsville stayed in the game because they forced15 of Bethesda’s 28 turnovers in the first half.
Early in the third quarter, the defense of Gabby Douglas and Dickey, who led the Comets with three steals each, triggered a flurry of turnovers in Bethesda’s backcourt.
“They definitely started to face-guard more, instead of more off-ball press and we started just throwing the ball away,” Bethesda’s Charlotte Lowndes said.
Catonsville went on a17-3 run in the first 4:45 of the third quarter and tied the game at 30.
Dickey scored eight, Barrett had six points and Douglas made a 3-pointer right after getting her fourth foul.
Dickey’s short jumper made it 32-30 with 2:59 left in the third quarter, but Clendenin scored the next eight points during an 8-2 surge.
Her first field goal, with 2:26 left, was the first of the quarter for the Barons.
Catonsville’s Sophi Wrisk made two free throws to cut the deficit to 38-36 with 30 seconds left.
Barrett’s two free throws ignited a 7-0 Catonsville run in the first 42 seconds of the fourth quarter.
Dickey scored on a put-back and converted a three-point play and Catonsville’s lead was 43-38 with 7:18 remaining.
Clendenin pulled the Barons within three, 43-40, with 6:43 left, but that was the closest they would get the rest of the way.
Despite being the game’s high scorer, Dickey deflected the praise.
“I’m not here because I got myself here, I’m here because my teammates got me here and my coaches got me here,” said Dickey, who will play at the University of Delaware next year. “Honestly, we are all MVPs, we all did this together. It feels great, but we are all in this together.”