Poly rallies past hot-shooting Edgewood for victory

Patterson Mill, Francis Scott Key, Severna Park, River Hill and Dulaney among winners

Poly girls basketball has been through the battles as it’s risen to be a state championship contender each year. Wednesday night at home, Edgewood made sure the Engineers had to go through another.

The visiting Rams, behind and aggressive offense and lots of 3-pointers, led through almost the entire first half before falling to Poly, 65-56, in the Class 3A North Region II championship game.

The win advances Poly (24-1) to the Class 3A state quarterfinals, where the Engineers will host an opponent to be determined Saturday.

London Elliott led Poly with 12 points, while Edgewood’s La’Kel Davis led all scorers with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Edgewood (17-6) got 27 of its points off shots from behind the arc.

Edgewood made sure from the beginning that the Engineers knew they’d be in a fight. The Rams came out hot, using three 3-pointers by Jael Erickson and two by Sam Donovan, both sophomores, to build a 21-16 lead after the first quarter. The Engineers played a zone defense most of the first quarter, but Edgewood made them pay by hitting from long range.

Poly started to play better on the defensive end in the second quarter and used back-to back 3s of its own by Chloe Mills and Alexis Smothers to take its first lead of the game, 26-24, with 3:34 left in the half. Edgewood continued to battle and took the halftime lead, 34-33, on a 3-pointer by Davis with one second left.

Poly wasted little time recapturing the lead, getting a 3-pointer by Amelia Overton just seven seconds into the second half. Gradually, the Poly defense began to tighten, and the Engineers went on a 9-6 run to take a 45-40 lead with 3:04 left in the third quarter. While Poly’s scoring picked up, the Engineers held Edgewood scoreless for 2:39 of the quarter.

Much to its credit, Edgewood was not done. The Rams used a jumper by Davis with 5:23 left in the game to cut the lead to 50-47. That was as close as they would get, though, as Poly’s defense again tightened to put the game away.

“We knew we had to work hard on defense, get extra possessions and rebounds,” Poly’s Brianna Pope said. “If we did that, we knew the offense would take care of itself.”

The Engineers were proud of their effort, but they know there’s still a tough road to get back to the state championship in College Park. Poly lost in that game last season after winning it the year before.

“We fought out the win, but we have a lot to work on,” Engineers coach Kendall Peace-Able said. “We talk all the time all the time about when you have to win games, and games are won and lost in the fourth quarter. You have to compete all the way through.”

For Poly, the win was their sixth straight regional title. For Edgewood, the loss was one of missed opportunities.

“Poly is a good team,” said an emotionally-spent Davis. “We knew they would bring everything they had. We studied film on them, but in the end, they wanted it more. It could have gone either way, but they definitely have my respect.”

OTHER GIRLS BASKETBALL SCORES: Patterson Mill 48, Havre de Grace 44:

Patterson Mill is fortunate Rich Wilhelm’s voice travels, because in a barn burner of a Class 1A North II final, there was much to talk his team through.

The host No. 1-seed Huskies and No. 2 Havre de Grace exchanged punches in a competitive second half. A quartet of crunch time free throws from Kiley Wilhelm, Rich’s daughter, secured the win, a second-consecutive regional title and a ticket to the state tournament.

Patterson Mill’s starting five collectively scored 17 fourth-quarter points. Azareya Whiting, Sanai Knox and Brielle Croxsell totaled 16 for the Warriors (12-10).

Coach Wilhelm’s message in that final minute: “They’re tired and we’re not. We need to continue to push the ball and we have to be smart with it.” Outside of a select few timeouts, he was communicating strategy from his seat on the bench.

When Patterson Mill’s assistant coach received a technical foul midway through the third quarter — albeit from a misunderstood frustration on a call that actually favored the Huskies (18-5) — it sentenced Rich to his seat the rest of the way.

The oft-animated coach now had to be more strategic in communicating his game plan. He gave a nod to Kiley, their only senior and on-floor leader who scored a team-high 15 points.

“Normally when I stand up, they can just look for me,” Rich said hoarsely. “Now when I’m sitting down they gotta find me. I’m trying to wave my hands, I’m trying to be vocal. But they know my voice. Once they found me, they understood.”

— Sam Cohn Francis Scott Key 65, Middletown 34:

Wednesday night was decades in the making.

Francis Scott Key has developed through the years into a force statewide. The past two seasons, the team that knocked the Eagles out of the playoffs has gone on to win a state championship.

This year, the Eagles had enough of being a stepping stone. It’s their turn to become champions.

Led by Drew Watkins’ 29-point performance, F.S. Key cruised to a victory over Middletown, earning the Class 2A West Region I championship, the school’s first since its state championship year of 1997.

“A lot of hard work went into this way before this season by a lot of people,” coach Mitchell Walther said. “There’s so much that went into tonight and it’s good to see the girls earn what they’ve been working for for so long.”

Once comfortable offensively, the Eagles turned up the pressure on defense and unleashed Abby Rieger. The guard had four of her six steals in the second quarter alone. Summer Brooks also helped out on the defensive end, finishing the game with 16 points, seven rebounds and six steals.

“It all starts on defense,” Rieger said. “That’s what our energy feeds off of. If we bring our A game there then it’ll carry over to offense.”

— Timothy Dashiell

Severna Park 59, South River 54, 3OT: Ryn Feemster wasn’t sure anyone saw her.

She gripped her head in her hands, the first smile in hours splitting features that had been consumed by triple-overtime, Class 3A East Region II final stress. She survived four fouls through four periods and took on a third of Severna Park’s scoring.

When teammate Maddy Sullivan’s free throw dinged off the rim, South River scrapped for the rebound that could save it and close a three-point gap with enough time to do it. Feemster reached for the ball, too.

But it was Sullivan herself, pulling the ball free and depositing it into the basket, earning the five-point lead that would be enough to keep South River at bay for good.

“We got this in the bag,” Feemster remembered thinking. “My hands are on my head; I’m running back, mindless, like, ‘OK, if we focus, no fouls, no free throws, and capitalize on offense …”

South River, which fought Severna Park throughout the seven frames and threw its heart onto its home court for two hours and change, had nothing left. The Falcons, at last, left the basketball behind and rushed into each other’s arms with a 59-54 final on the board.

In a three-way tie for second in the region, Severna Park will host either River Hill, Oakdale or Oxon Hill on Saturday in the 3A state quarterfinals. A coin flip will determine the opponent.

— Katherine Fominykh River Hill 56, Oakland Mills 31:

Throughout this season, River Hill coach Teresa Waters says she’s seen plenty of glimpses of the potential for sophomore forward Camille Nesmith to dominate. Waters has simply been waiting for that one statement performance where everything comes together.

After Wednesday night’s Class 3A South Region II championship win over Oakland Mills, the wait is officially over.

Nesmith scored 23 points, grabbed 18 rebounds (10 offensive) and set the tone for River Hill to race past the visiting Scorpions. It marks the third straight region championship for the Hawks, who advance to play in the 3A state quarterfinals Saturday.

“We’ve been talking to Camille a lot and we’ve known the potential is there all season. It’s really just been a matter of getting her to understand what she’s capable of,” Waters said. “Today I think she embraced the moment and showed what us as coaches have known all year. She’s an incredibly tough matchup for opposing teams.

“She knew the importance of this game and you could see that aggressiveness from her right out of the gate.”

River Hill (20-2) jumped out to a 20-10 lead by the end of the first quarter with Nesmith accounting for 10 of those points in the first eight minutes — all on layups.

Dominance around the basket turned out to be the theme of the evening for the Hawks, who made just three shots outside the paint. River Hill made up for it, though, by grabbing 21 offensive rebounds as a team and finishing at the rim.

— Brent Kennedy, for The Baltimore Sun

Dulaney sophomore Gabby Watson started on the bench against Towson during Wednesday night’s Class 3A North Region I championship game, but both coaches knew she would make an impact when she got on the floor.

She entered the game in the first quarter and had an assist, but no points. Then, in a 20-second span in the second quarter, she turned a five-point lead into 12 and the host Lions never looked back on the way to a 57-40 victory.

It’s the Lions’ first regional crown since 2008.

Watson made a 3-pointer with 4:55 remaining in the half and stole the ball on consecutive possessions at half court, finishing with layups to give the Lions (20-4) a 21-9 lead.

“I was so excited,” Watson said. “I was like ‘Oh, time to lock in, know we are going to win this game.’ So I stayed on my toes, played defense, stole the ball once and I came back and stole the ball again.”

She scored all of her game-high 19 points in the final three quarters, including 10 in the second when she hit two 3-pointers.

Dulaney 57, Towson 40:

Hereford 55, New Town 33 Howard 57, Chesapeake-AA 35 Hammond 59, Southern-AA 19 Fallston 42, North Harford 28