Alexander leads Mount Carmel girls over City

The Mount Carmel girls basketball team defeated City 57-37 in the 24th annual Baltimore City Basketball Academy at Morgan State on Thursday evening.

Cougars senior Shanysse Alexander stepped up to win Most Valuable Player, scoring 14 points. The forward constantly fought her way inside, grabbing rebounds and boxing out her opposition. She attributed her play to coach Rob Long’s ability to direct her and the team into the right positions.

“I just listen to my coach, and he just said, ‘Keep going at them, just look for our shots and work the ball around,’” Alexander said. “I think we worked really well together tonight and it worked out for us.”

Alyssa Hawes and Tsion Smith added 10 and 13 points, respectively, for Mount Carmel. With the Cougars returning no starters this season, team play was a key component of their victory.

“We want to play team ball — we want to play together,” Long said. “My motto is play for the next person, don’t play for yourself. In that kind of offense, it’s what we’re all about — sharing the basketball, finding not the good shot, but the best shot, and I thought we did and I thought we did a good job of that.

“There were some good shots that we passed up on for a better shot. I was happy to see that tonight.”

Mount Carmel (5-10) got off to a hot start with Smith scoring eight of her 13 points in the first quarter. City’s Julia Harrington scored four early points as Mount Carmel took a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Cougars kept up the offensive pressure in the second quarter with six different scorers for a 30-16 lead.

Alexander turned up the heat in the third quarter, scoring nine points, before sitting the majority of the fourth. Mount Carmel’s 49-25 lead at the end of the third allowed Long to empty his bench and play his new call-ups from the junior varsity team.

“Honestly, they didn’t come up for [ just] playing time,” Long said. “You saw them in the first quarter and they came to play. They’re just ball players, and we need them down the stretch. We played a tough schedule in December, and that was by design. That was to give some of the upperclassmen some looks in front of some college coaches.

“Now it’s time to win the conference. We’ve got Howard High School on Saturday. Now it’s time to develop your program and see what you really have because we have some big fish to fry.”

Century 32, South Carroll 22: Jess Diorio posted a double double and Century sank 12 free throws to defeat South Carroll in Carroll County Athletic League play in Eldersburg.

Diorio had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Knights (4-7, 2-3 CCAL). Rachel Tackett had a team-high 8 points for the Cavaliers (1-10, 1-3). Century visits Glenelg on Monday, while hosts Westminster on Tuesday.

Boys basketball

Edmondson 79, Carver 38: Anthony Mark scored 18 points to lead the host Red Storm (10-1) past the Bears. Edmondson led 39-22 in the first half.

Archbishop Spalding 100, No. 8 John Carroll 74: The host Cavaliers (9-6, 6-4 Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference Red Division) bounced back from Monday’s loss to No. 10 Glenelg Country by upsetting the Patriots (11-4, 3-2) Wednesday. Spalding was lead by Cam Whitmore with 28 points and 12 rebounds and CJ Scott 27 and Ty Peterson each had19 points. Spalding lost 68-67 to the Dragons Monday and will host No. 4 Mount St. Joseph 7 p.m. Friday.

Key 78, Jemicy 74: Augie Irving scored 34 points and handed out four assists and Marshall Tanz added 26 points to lead the Key School to a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference victory over Jemicy on Thursday.

Key (3-3) improved to 2-0 in the C Conference.

Wrestling

Catonsville 42, Perry Hall 25: The host Comets (6-1) earned their sixth straight dual-meet victory after a season-opening loss to Owings Mills.

Catonsville got pins from Josh Sampson (106), Ewan Hemmis (132), James Grap (138), Eric Grap (145) and Tye Perry (152).

Perry Hall’s Dimitri Koutsantonis (182) and Jeremy Kreiger (220) earned pins.

Winters Mill 53, Westminster 21: Winters Mill opened its regular season with a dual meet against Carroll County foe Manchester Valley, and the home match turned out to be a humbling experience for many of the Falcons.

Zach Kirby used some harsher words to describe his team’s 26-point lost to the Mavericks.

“It was kind of a nice kick in the face for us,” Kirby said. “Yeah, we got smacked.”

Winters Mill has been doing the smacking ever since — Thursday the Falcons visited city rival Westminster and came away with a 53-21 victory.

They’re 10-0 since losing to Man Valley on Dec. 10, and that includes going 7-0 at home in the annual Grindstone Duals tournament the following weekend.

Winters Mill (10-1, 2-1 Carroll County Athletic League) cruised past St. James, 64-12, and Century, 56-12, in December before returning to action last weekend in Easton for the New Year’s Brawl tourney.

The Falcons crowned four champions in Garrett Dell (113 pounds), Alex Vagnier (126), Kirby (132), and Hunter Merson (145). Winters Mill took first out of 15 teams with 515 points.