by Mike Buchananmbuchanan@digitalsports.com
Baltimore Cougars rallied from a half-time deficit to tie the game and then
outscored the Sure Shots in overtime to take a 54-51 win in the MD girl’s 11-under
basketball championship game, Saturday at College of Notre Dame.
Coach
Bob Mallory’s Sure Shots raced out to a 10-4 lead early in the game.
They extended the lead, and got it up to 10
points just before
the end of the half
as Samantha Martel knocked down a long three-pointer from the left wing with 37
ticks on the clock.
A late Cougars’
basket made it a 23-15 game at the break.
Neither
team scored in the opening minutes of the second half.
Then the Sure Shots demonstrated excellent
ball reversal and found Maiya Gibson open on the left wing.
Gibson had hit a pair of three-pointers in
the first half, and canned another to make it a 26-15 score.
After the teams traded baskets, Gibson hit
her fourth trey at the 7:20 mark.
The
Cougars answered with one score, and then Brionna Jones put an offensive
rebound back in to pull her team within eight.
Dionna White got a steal and drove in for a lay-up, making it a 35-30
game, as the Cougars inched closer.
Mallory
called time-out to stem the run, but the Cougars hit a jumper on their next
possession to make it 35-32.
It remained
a three-point margin until the two-minute mark, as the two teams traded baskets
and free throws.
Jones,
who dominated the offensive glass all game, scored on yet another put-back to
pull the Cougars to within one at 41-40.
After a defensive stop, the Cougars went inside and found Jones on the
block.
She scored, got fouled and hit
the free throw and all of a sudden the Cougars had a two-point lead.
With
1:25 on the clock, Gibson drained her fifth three-pointer and the Sure Shots
regained the lead by one. Jasmine Smith hit one of two from the line for the
Cougars with 29 seconds to go and it was a 44-44 tie.
The
Sure Shots had a golden opportunity, drawing a foul with just 7.2 seconds on
the clock, but were unable to hit either of two free throws.
It was on to overtime.
Qierra
Murray got the first points of OT, canning a three-pointer at 3:40 to give the
Sure Shots a 47-44 lead.
But the Cougars
answered back with an 8-0 run, as Deja Carroll got a steal and lay-up, and
Jones got back-to-back baskets inside.
The
Cougars scored again off an in-bounds play, and had a 54-49 lead with under a
minute to play.
The Sure Shots got a
lay-up with two seconds to go to account for the final three-point margin.
Gibson
led the Sure Shots with 19 points, including five from downtown, the most shots
made from behind the arc in any age-group finals game of the weekend. Jones fired in a game-high 25 to lead the
Cougars and Smith added 14, as the pair combined for an impressive 39
points. White was also in double figures
with 10.
According
to one observer, the Sure Shots had had a big lead over the Cougars in a
previous game, but the Cougars were able to go on a 21-0 run to rally and
win.
It wasn’t quite as big of a rally
in this game, but the Cougars were able to rally from a double-digit deficit
once again, this time to win the state championship.
AAU 11-under
Championship Game 2008
Cougars 54, Sure
Shots 51 OT
Cougars –
White 10, Smith 14, Carroll 2, Sessons 1, S. Jones 2, B. Jones 25. Totals: 24(1) 7-16 54.
Sure Shots-Blue – Gibson 19, Murray 7, Smoot 2, Martel 8, Jacobs 7, Collins
4, Forejt 2 (missing 6 points). Totals 15(6)
8-17 51.
Half: Sure Shots, 23-15.
Sure Shots-Blue 11-under
roster:
Head
Coach – Bob Mallory
Asst.
Coach – John Wallpher
02 Haley Riebling
04 Maiya Gibson
05 Qierra Murray
10 Jenna Collins
11 Tianna Wallpher
13 Kelli Smoot
20 Samantha Martel
21 Brianna Jacobs
22 Julia Collins
24 Maya Lee
Cougars 11-under
roster:
Head
Coach – Tim Burroughs
Asst.
Coach – Amanda Burroughs
Asst. Coach – Shadae Swan
01 Dyzhanay Burton
03 Dionaa White
04 Jasmine Smith
12 Jenelle Fields
15 Deja Carroll
20 Destiny Sessoms
22 Stephanie Jones
23 Teira Pendleton
24 Jada Hatcher
25 Brionna Jones
32 Sharon Davis
35 Joi McCoughtry
55 Sydney Smith
