By Ryan Minkrmink@digitalsports.comEven down 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter, Blake’s girls basketball team wasn’t too concerned.
That’s because Blake hadn’t even turned up its pressure yet.
Once they did, the Bengals caused turnover-after-turnover to beat Northwest, 55-51, in the 4A West final Saturday at Blair for their third straight region title.
The Bengals will now face 4A North champion Linganore (19-6) Thursday at the University of Maryland Baltimore County at 5 p.m.
“I felt like even though we were down 10 we were still in the game,”
Blake Coach Patti Gilmore said. “I felt if we could just get one good steal, we’d get a couple.”
Blake (21-5) caused 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter alone and often converted them into quick points. Northwest (19-5) didn’t score for nearly six minutes during the fourth quarter and turned the ball over on seven straight possessions.
“To step up at the end and put pressure on them causes a lot of turnovers,” senior point guard
Danielle Douglass said. “It helps us come back.”
The Bengals trailed 44-34 after Northwest’s
Nikita Reddy (17 points) opened the fourth quarter with a bucket. Blake notched the next 11 points, including four from junior guard
Justine Allen and capped off by a
Christine Weithman three-pointer.
Weithman, who struggled with her three-point shot throughout the game, hit a second straight three-pointer off a steal by
Faye Dunston that gave Blake a lead it would never relinquish.
She finished with 13 points, second most for the Bengals behind Douglas’s 19 points.
“That felt so nice,” Weithman said. “It’s so frustrating, especially when you feel one of your main roles is to shoot. When they weren’t dropping I was just getting really upset.”
Northwest maintained a steady lead through most of the game. Led by
Deven Green’s 23 points and Reddy’s sharpshooting, the Jaguars went from being tied at halftime to taking an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter. Northwest held Blake to just five points in the third quarter.
But with the game on the line, Blake’s experience and Northwest’s lack thereof showed.
The Jaguars were playing in their first region final in program history while the Bengals have turned themselves into a region power over the last three seasons. They reached the state finals in 2007 and semifinals last season.
This year, Blake—who lost six of its first eight games to begin the season while Weithman was injured -- is more athletic but smaller. And Douglass says the team is more disciplined, which should help against more complex defenses, she said.
“This means a lot, especially with this my senior year,” Douglass said. “It just shows we are a good team.”