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| Breanna Gross gets one of her nine steals on the night and allows Chanae Shorter to get 2 of her game-high 23 points. | |||||
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By James A. McCray III
Prince George's County, Content Manager
Name ... Breanna Gross. Alias ... Lady Hornet. Last known appearance ... Surrattsville High School gym. Modus operandi ... Active hands and layups.
No, Gross is not at all a criminal. However, in Monday night's girls basketball contest against the visiting Central Lady Falcons, the Surrattsville Lady Hornets, and in particular Gross, used a bit of thievery in the form of active hands, to get tips, deflections, and plenty of steals.
The steals led to eventual easy baskets throughout the contest and earned the Lady Hornets a 53-43 victory.
Gross not only notched 19 points on the night but added nine steals in the winning efforts.
"I think everyone pretty much hustled and did what they were supposed to do," Gross said. "We went into a zone, and I think that helped us out on defense because we were able to see what was open and what wasn't open."
On the team's active hands and steals on defense, Gross's teammate Chanae Shorter put it another way, adding jokingly: "If we don't do it, we [are] running [in practice]."
"I commend us on that," Surrattsville head coach Demario Newman said, "we had active hands. We had a lot of steals and that actually made a difference. ... As I always say, when you eliminate turnovers, rebound the basketball a lot better, and continue to have active hands to get steals and have hands in the passing lanes, that will put us right where we want to be."
As the defense showed tough, Shorter was just as strong on the offensive end scoring a game-high 23 points using speed and quickness to find herself either at the basket for an easy lay-in, or at the free throw line for free throw attempts.
Central head coach Renee Jamison was slightly upset at her team's slow starts in games up to this point.
"We can't start off slow," Jamison said. "We dig a deep hole in the first half and then try to jump out of it, and we can't play like that. We average 68 points a game and we can't be successful scoring 13, 14, 15 points in a half, that's not our game.
"Everyone has to realize that they are an offensive threat. ... We have yet to reach our full potential, and hopefully tonight was a wake-up call."
That was evident for the Lady Falcons as they scored 13 first-half points Monday night and matched that with a 13-point third-quarter.
Marketa Salley led the Lady Falcons in scoring for the second game in a row as she scored 17 points in Monday's loss.
Surrattsville, the defending 1A South Regional champions, have aspirations of getting to that point again this season and so far, so good as this win improves the Hornets to 7-2.
After gaining the lead 13-10 mid-way through the second quarter, the Lady Hornets never relinquished the lead again.
"Defense, defense, defense," Shorter said on what has been the key to the early-season success.
"Defense," Newman agreed. "It definitely has been defense."
tmccray@digitalsports.com
Surrattsville 53, Central 43
Central -- 5 8 13 17; Salley 17, Moore 13, Thomas 7, Burrell 4, Cowan 2
Surrattsville -- 8 14 16 15; Shorter 23, Gross 19, Hill 4, Battle 4, Briscoe 2, Perry 1
Three-point goals:
Central (Salley 2, Thomas)
Surrattsville (Gross)
