Spartans move on in 3A South
Edge Hornets for first-ever March win in program history
Every year numerous basketball teams get the chance to compete in March, and now St. Charles is finally getting the chance to do the same after holding on to defeat host Great Mills 47-44 in the Class 3A South Region Section II championship game on Thursday evening.
The Spartans played host Baltimore Polytechnical Institute in the 3A South final on Saturday, falling 72-45, to finish 16-8 overall on the season. The Engineers advanced following a 49-43 win over Oxon Hill of Prince George’s County in the Section I final.
The win against Great Mills on March 1 was the first-ever in the month of March for the four-yearold St. Charles program. The Spartans had won 11 of its last 13 games heading into Saturday’s region final.
“I feel exhilarated, I don’t even know if that’s the right word,” St. Charles head coach Darrelle Smith said of the Spartans’ first-ever region finals berth. “I’m very excited an happy for that group in there. These ladies have been together since November and it’s very rewarding to get to this point and keep playing, and we want to get to [states].”
St. Charles’ Jalia Walton, who added 12 points, said she was “excited, overwhelmed” to play in the regional final.
“I feel really good,” said St. Charles’ Sarah Austin, who scored a team-high 15 points. “We all brought our ‘A’ game and we were patient and worked together.”
The top-seeded Hornets (17-6 overall), who had won 7 of 8 coming into the game, trailed from early in the second quarter, though they tied the game twice in the fourth quarter.
“It’s sad anytime you end your season,” Great Mills head coach Matt Wood said. “The group of girls we had was a special group of girls. It was a successful season and this will hurt for a little while, but hopefully at some point they’ll look back and say, ‘We played really well this season.’”
The two teams did not face each other this season.
“All the credit to Great Mills. They have a credible ballclub and a heck of a team,” Smith said.
The Spartans, who entered the fourth quarter with a 37-33 lead, saw Great Mills tie the game at 37 on back-to-back buckets by Raevyn Harris (team-high 12 points), but just 29 seconds later, St. Charles’ Desirae Shepard put the Spartans ahead with a three from the top of the key.
The Hornets tied the game again at 40, but a free throw by Walton and a bucket by Shepard off a turnover put St. Charles back in front 43-40 with 3 minutes 48 seconds left.
“We just couldn’t seem to get over that little hump and take the lead,” Wood said.
St. Charles moved ahead 47-44 when Walton came down with an offensive rebound on her third try and, while being fouled, caromed the putback in.
“I was just thinking, ‘I’ve got to get it, I’ve got to get it and score for the team,’” Walton said.
Her ensuing free throw missed, but Austin gathered in the rebound.
“I was nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Walton said. “My legs were shaking and once I got up there it didn’t come off my fingers right.”
Great Mills finally gained possession with 16 seconds left, but two three-point attempts by JaNeeshea Gaskin bounced off the backboard and rim and Toyin Allen’s last-gasp three from the right corner failed to fall.
“[My heart] raced a little bit,” Smith said of the Hornets’ last-chance shots.
“We had just watched a game where someone scored on a buzzer-beater and I was thinking, ‘We can’t let that happen to us. We have to get it,’” said Walton, who finally pulled down the third attempt to ice the game.
After three lead changes, St. Charles took a 1412 lead into the second quarter, but the Hornets regained the lead on Alexis Smith’s trey 14 seconds into the period. The Spartans then moved ahead for good following a 9-0 run.
“Some silly turnovers and early in the first half they just kept beating us to the basket and that got in our heads a bit,” Wood said. “They were the more aggressive team to start the game and all night as a team they rebounded better than our team and that was the difference all night.”
The Hornets scored just three points in an eightplus minute span over the first and second quarters.
Still, the Spartans’ biggest lead of the game was just nine points.
“We got kind of lethargic at times,” Smith said. “We ran out of gas, and because of fatigue we missed some free throws and some layups and made some silly touch fouls.”
The Spartans led 29-25 at halftime.
“We needed to eliminate their guards and understand that we still needed to rebound,” Smith said. “All season long that’s kind of been our Achilles’ heel. We’re not the deepest of teams, and they had to put it all on the line. I tell them all the time, ‘You don’t go through life, you grow through life’ and this has been a growing experience all season.”