by Brandon Hopp
“DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!”
The home crowd chanted with 5:00 minutes left to play after Oakland Mills senior guard Miriam McKenzie scored on a lay-up off of a steal, to cut what was once an 18-point Mount Hebron lead to just two at 39-37 in a big-time girls’ basketball game on Wednesday.
Sophomore center Megan Schaaf answered for the Vikings with a turn-around jumper to end McKenzie’s 6-0 run and extended Mount Hebron’s lead to 41-37. Junior guard Brittany Bowen (12 points) then followed with two straight baskets to give visiting Mount Hebron a 45-37 victory over Howard County rival Oakland Mills.
The No. 7 Vikings (6-0) came out early with good ball movement and backdoor cuts to take a 16-9 first quarter lead. Senior forward Deanna Dydynski lead the way with five points in the first.
In the second quarter, the No. 9 ranked Scorpions (6-1) were held to four total points and Mount Hebron extended its lead to 29-13 at the half.
Senior guard Qiana Coleman had the tough task of matching up man-to-man with McKenzie. Coleman did a good job of shadowing the Oakland Mills star, where ever she went, Coleman was there trying to deny her the ball. McKenzie was held to six points in the half.
“They are a great team,” said Mount Hebron’s head coach Scott Robinson. “Miriam is a great player, we held her down in the first half….”
The second half was a different story. The Scorpions went on a 10-1 run in the third to cut the deficit to 36-27 with 2:05 remaining in the quarter. McKenzie started the run with a drive to the basket and scored four points in that span. Senior guard Gabby Barnes (10 points) added four points and freshman guard Anna Kiely took a pass from McKenzie to score on the run.
Schaaf stopped the Oakland Mills spurt and ended the Vikings four-minute scoring drought by making an inside move for a bucket with 1:20 remaining in the quarter. The sophomore came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points for Mount Hebron.
“It was really a team-effort, we’ve worked really hard in practice,” Schaaf said. “We knew there was like three minutes left and put everything we had left on the court.”
The Vikings ended the third quarter with a 38-29 advantage and looked to keep the home crowd out of the game in the fourth to secure the victory.
That plan proved to be a hard task. Oakland Mills’ Barnes took a pass from Kiely and made a shot to cut the lead to 38-31 with 7:10 left in the game. Schaaf followed with a big rebound was fouled on the put-back. She made one-of-two from the line to take the lead to eight.
McKenzie then drove to the basket past three defenders for the lay-up. She followed that effort with two back-to-back steals that were converted into lay-ups to cut the Vikings’ advantage to two points at 39-37 with 5:00 left to play.
The Scorpions home crowd came to life. They began banging and stomping on the wooden bleachers and yelled “defense, defense.” Oakland Mills had marched back from a 16-point deficit to cut the score to two and regained a chance to win.
Despite the increasing decibel level, Coach Robinson’s bunch held it together, tightened up their defense and scored the next six points to cement the victory in a battle of two DigitalSports Top 10 teams.
Schaaf scored on a pass from Coleman to stop the yet another run by the Scorpions. Bowen added back-to-back lay-ups and the Vikings escaped.
“The character of the girls on this team, not to quit and to fight back is why we’re where we’re at right now,” said Oakland Mills head coach Seth Willingham. “I’m very proud of the way they fought back because we could have gave up being down 16 at halftime and called it a day and they didn’t.”
“I thought our team down the stretch, when they cut it to two, never lost composure, particularly in front of a hostile crowd on the road,” said Coach Robinson. “We hit some big shots down the stretch and it was good for me to see the girls strive under pressure situations…”
Note: The Mount Hebron players had the name Rose etched in their sneakers and arm bands. Vikings’ assistant coach Tony Giro’s mother, Rose, passed away after a long battle with cancer last week. Rose was a fixture at the Mount Hebron’s games sitting behind the bench rooting on the team. The entire team will attend her funeral on Thursday and have dedicated their season to her memory.
Mount Hebron 45, Oakland Mills 37
MH 16 13 9 7 — 45
OM 9 4 16 8 — 37
Mount Hebron–Dydynski 7, Bowen 12, Schaaf 16, Coleman 4, Walper 6. Totals 20 4-8 45.
Oakland Mills–McKenzie 18, Barnes 10, Hill 4, Nias 2, Nichols 1, Kiely 2. Totals 18 1-2 37.
Half–Mount Hebron 16, Oakland Mills 9.
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