MINK ESCAPES BOX TO SEAL AACS VICTORY

Even though she's seen it before, senior guard Dani Mink was still a little flustered in the first quarter with the constant pressure she was receiving from Beth Tfiloh's box-in-one defense.

But with 13 seconds left and her team clinging to a one-point lead, she was all alone at the free-throw line after being intentionally fouled.

Mink converted both free throws for Annapolis Area Christian to seal a 39-34 victory over the visiting Warriors in an IAAM C Conference basketball game Thursday night.

"Hitting those shots so late in the game was a little overwhelming," said Mink, who finished with 10 points. "I knew I had to make (the free throws) so it would be difficult for them to tie it up."

Beth Tfiloh drew up a play for a three-pointer but the inbound pass at midcourt was intercepted by junior Lane Cheek, who went coast-to-coast for a layup as time expired.

"Just too many mistakes on our part," said Warriors assistant coach Stacy Hollander, whose team trailed most of the game but cut the Eagles' lead to two points twice in the final minute and a half.

"We didn't start to play until the fourth quarter and that's not how you win games. The other team came out ready and they played hard. They just wanted it more than we did."

With the win, AACS (7-8 overall, 6-5 in the conference) snapped a three-game skid and is now within one game of second-place Beth Tfiloh (9-7, 7-4) in the conference standings.

"The league is very balanced this year and our goal, at this point, is to finish in second and get that first-round bye," said Eagles coach Gary Young, whose team won the C Conference last year during its inaugural season in the league.

"We've been trying a lot of things and playing all 10 players every half. We're still working on finding the right combinations."

AACS was paced last year by then sophomore center Alex Stelfox during its run to the conference title. Stelfox transferred to Elizabeth Seton before the season and Young has been trying to find someone to pick up the scoring burden, especially after senior center Kristen Tucker -- Stelfox's potential replacement -- went down with a right knee injury.

"It seems like we have different girls stepping up every night," Young said. "When you substitute five girls in at a time, it helps because we usually get more intensity and we have fresh legs for the press."

The Eagles' defense was tenacious throughout. Their full-court pressure never allowed the Warriors to set up offensive plays in the first half. In the second quarter, Beth Tfiloh went 0-10 from the field and managed only four made free throws in the period.

"In the beginning, we were getting turnovers but they started to get breakaways off our press and we had to push back a little bit," said senior forward Hillary Thompson, who scored eight points in the second half and finished with 10. "I think that's how they got back in the game, but we held on."

The Warriors went on a 7-2 run and cut the Eagles' lead to 33-31 with 4:29 left. On the ensuing possession for AACS, Thompson scored on a putback to open a four-point advantage. The lead was cut to one when Beth Tfiloh's Sara Hervitz (team-high 11 points) hit the second of two free throws with 14 seconds remaining.

"We were out of control and we needed to settle down," Thompson said.

The Eagles calmly put the ball in Mink's hands with the seconds ticking away and she was intentionally fouled while crossing midcourt on the far sideline.

"Dani is our leading scorer and that's the person you want on the line in those situations," Young said.

AACS had 10 different players score in the contest. Cheek came off the bench and finished with seven points while junior Amy Topp added four.

Ariel Vogelstein had 10 points for the Warriors and Michelle Sufferman pumped in five.

Annapolis Area Christian 39, Beth Tfiloh 34
BT      9   4     9   12   --   34
AA   10   9   10   10   --   39
Beth Tfiloh: Sufferman 2 1-2 5, Holzman 1 0-0 2, Sandler 1 0-0 2, Vogelstein 4 2-4 10, Schulder 1 0-2 2, Spitz 1 0-0 2, Hervitz 3 5-8 11. TOTALS: 13 8-16 34.
Annapolis Area Christian: Mahaffey 0 2-2 2, Mink 4 2-2 10, Thompson 5 0-0 10, Topp 2 0-0 4, Williams 1 0-0 2, Cheek 3 1-4 7, Dark 1 0-0 2, Curro 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 16 7-10 39.
Half: Annapolis Area Christian, 19-13.