By James A. McCray IIIPrince George's County, Content ManagerThe word dynasty may not be thrown around often when it comes to a high-school program. The word is rarely even used for a college or professional team.
However, for the
Eleanor Roosevelt Lady Raiders basketball team, dynasty may just be a word associated with the program as it will attempt to win an unprecedented fifth consecutive Maryland state title.
The Lady Raiders clinched a spot in the state tournament with a
50-39 victory over the
C.H. Flowers Lady Jaguars in Saturday's
4A South region championship game, its fifth consecutive region title.
And as one of the intricate parts --senior center
Olivia Applewhite-- puts it, "That's what we want, that's our goal."
Applewhite has averaged a double-double through the season with 13.4 points per game to go along side 13.5 rebounds and led the Lady Raiders with a game-high 21 points in Saturday's victory.
"I want to be able to say that I helped get it done here," Applewhite admitted. "I am not looking past anyone. I just know that I have two more steps to get there, and I am going to do whatever I can to get there."
Flowers was riding the momentum of its one-point semi-final victory over Henry Wise coming into the title game and led after one quarter, 13-10.
The two teams entered the half tied at 22, but in the third quarter, Roosevelt opened up a 10-point lead thanks to nine third-quarter points from Applewhite and seven third-quarter points from senior
Elashier Hall.
"We knew that Flowers was going to come out with all they had in every quarter," said Hall who finished with 13 points. " ... We just knew we had to step it up and we did. We buckled down on defense and put up more shots on offense."
Although pleased that his team won another regional title, Roosevelt head coach
Rod Hairston was quick to realize the bigger picture.
"This was not our goal," the coach said. "A lot of teams get this far and they lose sight of what the ultimate goal is. ... I have seen a lot of teams dance [on the floor] at the regionals and they were really sad come state time.
"This is a great achievement winning five in row, I think it is great, I think it is historical, I think these kids have marked their place in history, but that is not the ultimate goal. ... Our goal when we walk in for conditioning and work-outs is to win a state championship."
Applewhite and Hall combined to score 21 of Roosevelt's 28 second-half points and
Hairston
appreciated the game that his senior leaders had after being down
early, one of the rare times this season, and still coming out with a
victory.
"Flowers came out on fire and that is what we expected from them," Hairston said. " ... But my seniors stepped up and were leaders; seniors acted like seniors. I thought Elashier took a leadership role. She has been playing like that since her junior season.
"Olivia also stepped up and did her job inside, and I think the two seniors did what they were supposed to do. They are two big-time senior leaders."
And on that word dynasty, Hall had her own description of the word adding: "It's a pretty cool word."
Flowers finishes the season with 17 wins to go along side six losses and has appeared in the 4A South title game for the third consecutive year, each year facing Roosevelt.
Nikia Gorham led the Lady Jaguars with 11 points on the evening.
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James A. McCray IIIEleanor Roosevelt 50, C.H. Flowers 39Flowers -- 13 9 9 8; Gorham 11, Brown 9, Person 5, Waters 4, Yelder 4, Tucker 4, Ekanem 1, Burgess 1
Roosevelt -- 10 12 19 9; Applewhite 21, E. Hall 13, Mallory 5, A. Hall 3, Russell 2, Chioma 2, Revis 2, Gibbs 2