Glen Burnie girls basketball continues mastery of Old Mill

In its seismic campaign last winter, Glen Burnie High girls basketball team beat perennial Anne Arundel County stronghold Old Mill four times.

The trend continued Friday evening. The No. 6 Gophers topped the eighth-ranked Patriots, 59-47, in the Anne Arundel league opener for both inside James T. Bogle Gymnasium.

Cal State Fullerton-bound guard Amourie Porter scored 24 points for Glen Burnie (2-0 overall, 1-0 Anne Arundel), and Lania Nick added 16. Amaya Douglas led Old Mill (0-1, 0-1 Anne Arundel) with 14 points and senior post Amani Watts finished with 10.

The Gophers were able to pull away to win for a fifth straight time against the Patriots. Glen Burnie won both meetings last regular season and topped Old Mill in the county final. The Gophers made it four with a victory in the Class 4A East Region final, en route to its first state Final Four since 1983.

Friday, Glen Burnie gained the early advantage in the league race, though coach Samuel Porter didn’t think his team had its best performance.

“We let them back in the game,” Porter said. “When we’re up, we can’t let teams back in the game.”

The Gophers jumped out to an early 8-0 lead with Porter accounting for the first four points. Old Mill, behind Watts, battled back to take a 15-13 advantage.

Patriots coach Henry Fuller told his team that they need to refocus and allow themselves to play back into the game. He also added that he thought that his team needed to run their offense through their star, Watts, otherwise known as “Baby Shaq.”

Glen Burnie stormed back, ending the first half on a 16-3 run. Old Mill cut the lead to 40-35 at the end of the third, but the Gophers answered.

The Gophers scored 9 of the first 12 points of the final quarter. The Patriots were pressing hard to find an answer, but Cassidy Wilkerson dribbled her way down the court, finishing at the hoop to extend Glen Burnie’s lead to 13.

Samuel Porter lamented some sloppy play in the closing minutes that put Old Mill back into contention.

“Tough games like this, yeah we can run, but then we gotta slow it down,” Samuel Porter said. “That comes with that maturity.”

NO. 6 GLEN BURNIE 59, NO. 8 OLD MILL 47

Old Mill 9 9 17 12 - 47

Glen Burnie 13 16 13 17 - 59

Old Mill- Neveah Brown 7, Amaya Douglas 14, Amani Watts 10, Alina Fant 3, NyAsia Futrell 5, Mackenzie Singletary 6, Jemirah Brown 2. Totals 18 7-13 47.

Glen Burnie- Amourie Porter 24, Aichatta Soumaoro 3, Layla Washington 4, Lania Nick 16, Cassidy Wilkerson 5, Starr Munford 7. Totals 22 12-20 59.