By James A. McCray III
Prince George’s County, Content Manager
HOLIDAY HOOPS CLASSIC GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: DAY 2 RECAP
Winner’s bracket semifinals:
Game 1
Robert E. Lee 49, Bladensburg 28 (6 p.m.)
The Robert E. Lee Lady Lancers had one thing on its mind coming into its semi-final contest with the Bladensburg Lady Mustangs Saturday night, defense. Lee head coach Harold Jackson and the Lady Lancers wanted to earn a trip to the tournament championship game scheduled for Monday at 8 p.m. and after Saturday’s performance, consider its ticket punched.
Lee (7-1) held Bladensburg to 2 points in the first and third quarters of the game en route to its 49-28 victory, thus proving that defense does not only win championships, but gets you to the championship as well.
“It feels really good,” said Lee’s Priscilla Moseh on advancing to the tournament’s title game. “Coach gave us an incentive that they were giving out a big prize at the end, and that has been our incentive every day because we want the big prize at the end.”
Moseh played a vital role for the Lancers defensively putting constant pressure on the guards of Bladensburg and also offensively as she scored a game-high 17 points.
“She plays good,” Jackson said of Moseh. “She can handle the pressure and she can play under any circumstance. She has been playing varsity since her freshman year so she can handle it. … This year she is ready to run the show.”
Despite the high offensive output by Lee, it was defense that propelled the Lady Lancers to a victory.
As the game remained within reach for the Mustangs going into the half, Lee put the game out of reach with a 20-2 quarter and cruised to the victory.
“We saw some things that went on late in the second quarter,” Jackson added, “so we just switched the defense up. They had some problems with the new defense that we played and we got a lot of turnovers and easy buckets.”
Bladensburg (5-1) was led in scoring by Joelle Hill as she scored 10 points and was the only Lady Mustang in double figures.
Bladensburg — 2 10 2 16; Hill 10, Ahaiwe 8, Wallace 4, Perkins 4, Davis 2
Robert E. Lee — 13 12 20 4; Pr. Moseh 17, Williams 14, Mial 9, Pa. Moseh 6, Everett 2, Kolonich 1
Game 2 (8 p.m.)
Elizabeth Seton 65, Old Mill 48
For the third consecutive year, the Elizabeth Seton Roadrunners will play in the Holiday Hoops Classic tournament championship game. And after losses in both of the previous years, the Roadrunners hope that the third time is in fact the charm.
In arguably the most highly anticipated game of the night, Seton defeated previously undefeated Old Mill Lady Patriots 65-48 to earn its third trip to tournament’s title game.
“We keep losing it and this year I am thinking we have to win it,” Seton head coach Jazz Perazic said jokingly.
The game more than lived up to its pre-game hype as both teams played at a fanatic pace in the first half exchanging baskets and providing end-to-end action. The two teams played an evenly-matched contest so much so that the two clubs went into the half tied at 23.
And as the game remained just as close for the better parts of the third period, a 10-0 scoring run to close the quarter seemingly was too much for the Lady Patriots to overcome as Seton pulled away to the victory.
Seton (6-1) was paced by the inside-outside combination of Tyaunna Marshall and Alex Stelfox. As Marshall scored 21 points with an array of jumpers and lay-ups, Stelfox scored all of her 20 points, respectively, inside of the paint.
The third quarter has been the turning point of each of Seton’s first two games as a 26-4 third quarter helped in its opening-round game against Westlake.
“First we came out here and we were sluggish,” Marshall said. “But we came out of the halftime once again. We told ourselves we had to get ready and we had to go to the championship. We had to play our game and play hard.”
“We go in at the halftime and we talk to each other and we [know] we have to bring it out in the third quarter,” Stelfox added.
Old Mill (6-1) dropped its first game of the season with the loss and was paced by Ciarra Lucas’ game-high 22 points.
Old Mill — 10 13 6 19; Lucas 22, Salisbury 8, Conley 5, Smith 5, Pinkcett 4, Atkinson 4
Seton — 11 12 20 22; T. Marshall 21, Stelfox 20, Albanese 8, K., Marshall 8, Martin 6, Missouri 2
Consolation bracket:
North Point 46, Southern 43 (2 p.m.)
As missed shots bounced off of the rim and into the air in Saturday afternoon’s contest with the North Point Lady Eagles and Southern Lady Bulldogs one thing was clearly evident, No. 21 in a North Point jersey was going after it.
That 21 jersey belonged to that of North Point’s Brittany Baker as she pulled down 17 rebounds to go alongside her 11 points in North Point’s 46-43 victory over Southern.
“I know when they take foul shots, I have to go up there and pull [the rebound] down and put it back up there nice and strong and make the layups for my team,” Baker said.
“Literally, she kept us in the game with her mental toughness,” North Point head coach Keith Spencer said. “That is one area that we never have to worry about with Brittany. She is mentally tough, she is always focused, she is always working her tail off, and today that helped us, it really did.”
Although North Point earned the victory, it found itself down 1 point, 41-40, with only 2 minutes remaining in the game. However, North Point’s Tiara Butler knocked down a jumper giving the Eagles the lead for good at 42-41.
The win allowed North Point (6-1) to bounce back from its opening-day loss on Friday to Bladensburg.
“It feels good to have a better taste in your mouth,” Spencer said. ” … I just knew that we were better than how we played [on Friday]. We didn’t have a glorious performance today, but we fought. I think if we continue to do that, we will be alright in any type of game that we play.”
Southern’s Jasmine Wills led the Bulldogs with a game-high 18 points on the day.
Southern — 12 11 13 7; Wills 18, F. Jones 9, R. Jones 9, Beall 4, Eckard 3
North Point — 9 17 15 14; Baker 11, Parks, 11 Stewart 7, Butler 5, Brown 5, Harmon 4, Thompson 2, Adams 1
Westlake 58, Gwynn Park 28 (4 p.m.)
Looking to bounce back from their respective opening-day losses, the Westlake Lady Wolverines took on the Gwynn Park Lady Yellow Jackets in the second game of day 2.
Westlake opened a 16-4 lead early in the first quarter and never looked back en route to its 58-28 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
Using its full-court pressing defense, the Wolverines earned many un-contested lay-up opportunities to earn the win.
“It was a lot better performance today, we executed better,” Westlake head coach Andrew Norris said. “We didn’t execute at all [on Friday] and that was the main focus today, to execute some things.”
Westlake’s Shanice Goree led all Westlake scorers with 12 points as the Wolverines had 11 different players — its entire roster — score in the victory.
“We were kind of recuperating from [Friday] because we didn’t do too well,” Goree said.
On what she likes about this year’s team, Gore added: “This year we work hard. We play as a team and [the] defense.”
Gwynn Park was led in scoring by Kirstin Mobley and Jasmine Simms as both respectively netted eight points.
Gwynn Park — 6 10 4 14; Mobley 8, Simms 8, Jackson 4, Alexander 4, Law 2, Black 2,
Westlake — 18 12 13 15; Goree 12, Bell 8, Jones 8, Davis 7, Jones Harris 6, Swann 4, Barr 4, Brown 3, Beckett 2, Young 2, Malone 2
Championship Game: Monday, 8 p.m.
Robert E. Lee vs. Elizabeth Seton
Additional Monday games (All games to be played at Washington Bible College)
Southern vs. Gwynn Park, 2 p.m.
North Point vs. Westlake, 4 p.m.
Bladensburg vs. Old Mill, 6 p.m.
tmccray@digitalsports.com
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