St. Frances Wins Sixth Straight

The Seton Keough girls basketball team could not overcome St. Frances for the IAAM A Conference title.  (Zachary Harrison)

By: Brandon Goldner

St. Frances won its sixth consecutive Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship last week -- but it wasn’t an easy task.

The Panthers rallied late in regulation and made several key plays in overtime to pull out a 43-39 victory over Seton Keough to win the conference title at Villa Julie College.

St. Frances (25-3) trailed, 33-27, with four minutes and 30 seconds left in regulation. That’s when sophomore guard Shatyra Hawkes rallied her team, scoring six points resulting in a 37-37 tie going into overtime. She led the Panthers with 15 points, and her free throw in the final seconds forced the extra period.

Seton Keough (26-4), however, struggled at the free throw line, making 10 of 23 shots, leaving the door open for a St. Frances comeback.

The championship came amidst a season of injuries, inexperience and doubts.

Senior All-Metro center Kandice Green was the only starter returning from last season. When Green went down early in the season with an ankle injury, the team had no experienced starters.

The team did keep going, however, winning their first 10 games, and Green would eventually return to action. She posted 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks in the title game, making herself a big part of the St. Frances victory.

St. Frances also suffered a 62-40 defeat to Seton Keough early in the season as well as losses to Riverdale Baptist the two times the teams met. But the Panthers came through in the end.

SEVERN TAKES B TITLE
Severn had little trouble winning the IAAM B Conference title.

The Admirals took the lead early in the game at Villa Julie and pulled away in the second half for a 54-33 rout of St. Vincent Pallotti, capturing their third conference title in the last five years.

The Severn victory wasn’t a surprise because the Admirals had easily beaten Pallotti (10-13) in the regular season and had been nearly perfect throughout the year.

At 23-2, the Admirals had the best record in the B Conference, undefeated against conference rivals. Severn ended the season with a 17-game winning streak, and Pallotti couldn’t do much to stop the Admirals in the title game.

The Admirals took a 31-21 lead going into halftime and increased their lead in the second half, taking command and pushing Pallotti away.

Taylor Wieczorek, the team’s only senior, capped her final year with 11 points and 17 rebounds. Severn’s two guards, Katie Dickerson and Leah Cramner, led the team in points. Cramner scored 16 points while Dickerson added 15.

LUTHERAN SURPRISES PARK
Park had little trouble with Baltimore Lutheran when the two teams met in late January. The Bruins controlled the game and rolled to a dominating 44-2 victory.

But things were different when the teams met again in the IAAM C Conference title game at Villa Julie.

Baltimore Lutheran rallied in the second half, finding its offense and coming up with a surprising 45-39 victory over Park to win the conference title.

The Bruins (18-3) struggled in the first quarter against a tough Lutheran defense, scoring only four points, but awakened in the second period and appeared to be in command with an 18-11 halftime.

However, Baltimore Lutheran (20-6) bounced back in the second half to score 34 points -- with the help of all-conference seniors Rachel Keshishian and Meghan Lepley who got 14 points and eight points, respectively.

Junior guard Lindsay Hamilton also scored eight points and hit six of eight free throws as Baltimore Lutheran rallied in the second half.

Baltimore Lutheran overcame some early struggles on its way to the C Conference championship.

The Saints lost their first two games of the season as well as back-to-back decisions to Oldfields (50-24) and Park. Baltimore Lutheran, however, finished the season with a seven-game winning streak.

Posted Feb. 29, 2008