Friday night, No. 13 Pikesville faced the final potential speed bump en route to a berth in the Baltimore County girls basketball championship game — undefeated Loch Raven.
Last weekend, the No. 9 Loch Raven beat defending county champion Hereford and then-No. 8 Mount Carmel, but against a quick, cohesive Panthers squad, the Raiders struggled from the start.
With stingy man-to-man defense and a solid inside-outside game, host Pikesville built an early 11-point lead and rolled a 57-29 victory to clinch the top spot in the county’s Division I.
“This is a really big win,” junior post Tykeisha Hill said. “Loch Raven was talking a lot — a lot — and we really wanted this for counties. We didn’t win last year, so we’ve got to get it this year.”
The Panthers (16-5 overall, 11-0 Division I) won county titles in 2019 and 2020 but did not qualify for the game last year. They will play for the championship likely on Feb. 21 at a site to be determined.
After missing out on counties last year, Pikesville went on to win the Class 1A state championship and seemed poised for another great season. Then in the fall, guard Amori Jarrett transferred, taking 20 points a game and leaving a lot of questions about how the Panthers would overcome that loss — questions they have now answered.
“I’m so proud of this team and wanted this so much for this team,” said coach Mike Dukes, “because there were so many doubts about our team after we lost Jarrett and I said to my players, ‘We can’t let a player define our season, so you girls have to take that personal in terms of where people are placing you right now and counting you out.’ Just extremely proud how they really stepped up and raised the bar.”
Although it seemed the Panthers and the Raiders (18-1, 10-1 Division I) would match up fairly evenly, Pikesville never let them settle into any kind of offense. The Raiders managed just two field goals in the first half and the Panthers ran their lead to 20 midway through the third quarter.
“We played our worst game of the year,” said Loch Raven coach Jerome Ragsdale. “We played bad from the beginning buzzer to the end buzzer, all four quarters. We just couldn’t get into our rhythm tonight for some reason.”
Pikesville senior guard Korai Bowen led the defensive effort with two steals in the first two minutes of the game. She did a terrific job holding Raiders catalyst Maya Gordon without a field goal for the first 12 minutes.
“I just know I had to be a leader out there and push us to win, because we needed this win,” said Bowen, the Panthers’ only senior starter. “The coach said to keep (Gordon) right…. she was one of their best players, so I just made sure I took that left hand away from her.”
Senior forward Aliyah Taylor, who opened the game with a steal and finished with nine points, also stood out defensively as the Panthers forced 11 Loch Raven turnovers in the first quarter and 27 in the game.
The Panthers had a lot of assisted baskets, including their first two as Hill fed Jayda Mayles and Mayles fed Taylor for a 4-0 lead. Junior guard Meona Boykin cut the lead to one with a long 3-pointer, but the Raiders would not score again until Boykin hit a free throw with 5:29 to go in the second quarter. By then, the Panthers led 17-4
Freshman point guard Mariah Jones-Bey led the Panthers with 12 points while Mayles, a junior shooting guard, scored nine. Jones-Bey hit three of Pikesville’s eight 3-pointers and junior guard Bree Taylor hit two. Jones-Bey and Mayles also had six assists each.
“They were smaller than us, so we feed the bigs,” Mayles said, “and once we feed the bigs, they start going in, so we just play a good game of inside-out.”
Hill and junior forward Darielle Taylor combined for 14 points and 16 rebounds.
The Raiders, who haven’t won a county championship since 1976, rallied a bit in the fourth quarter with a switch to man-to-man defense. They scored the first six points of the quarter, capped by a 3-pointer from junior guard Gordon, but that only cut the lead to 41-23.
The Panthers adjusted after a few minutes — and two time outs — and Jones-Bey slipped a couple of assists to Hill to end the rally.
The Raiders, however, might have a shot at revenge in a few weeks, because they could meet the Panthers in the Class 1A South regional playoffs.
‘”It was a tough loss, but we’ll bounce back,” said Ragsdale, who has no starting seniors.
“It’s hard to go undefeated as a basketball team. These girls put in the hard work… Tonight is over with. We move on to prepare for Eastern Tech on Wednesday. We’ll see Pikesville down the line in the playoffs.
NO. 13 PIKESVILLE 57, NO. 9 LOCH RAVEN 29
Loch Raven 3 7 7 12 — 29
Pikesville 14 9 18 16 — 57
Loch Raven — Aarlyn Gibson 3, Maya Gordon 11, Meona Boykin 11, Sydney Ennis 4. Totals 8 11-18 29.
Pikesville — Mariah Jones-Bey 12, Darielle Weems 5, Aliyah Taylor 9, Bree Taylor 8, Korai Bowen 5, Tykeisha Hill 9, Jayda Mayles 9. Totals 20 9-20 57.
