For weeks, No. 12 St. Mary’s girls basketball team looked forward to Tuesday night’s Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference battle with No. 8 St. Timothy’s.
The undefeated Saints had not faced a ranked opponent this season and had rolled past their B Conference competition by an average of 36 points with only one game decided by fewer than 19. The Saints were itching to prove themselves against St. Timothy’s which was also unbeaten in the conference and holding opponents to 25 points per game.
The Saints jumped out to an early lead, pushed it to 15 midway through the second quarter and fought off every St. Tim’s comeback attempt en route to a 62-52 victory.
“We were planning ahead for weeks and this was the biggest win of the season for us right now, to finally get the competition, being pushed out of our comfort zone and winning,” said freshman guard Bailey Harris, who led the Saints with 29 points. “A lot of our games, we weren’t being pushed, so this really proved we should be undefeated.”
The Saints (16-0 overall) improved to 8-0 in the conference and are tied with Concordia Prep (15-2, 8-0 IAAM B) for the top spot. St. Timothy’s (7-3) drops to 7-1 in the conference.
St. Timothy’s had a height advantage inside and looked to get easy buckets on the run, but St. Mary’s thwarted that strategy by out-rebounding their hosts, 57-38. St. Timothy’s also struggled with their shots, missing a lot of easy looks.
“Our game is to turn them over, to push and we had them. They got tired for a little bit and we got it down,” said St. Timothy’s coach Vernon Harris, whose team cut the lead to seven in the fourth quarter.
“But the extra gear is where we were lacking… We lost a lot of extra rebounds. They probably out-rebounded us and I was shocked at that. We missed a lot of little easy shots. We missed a shot; they made a shot. If we missed a rebound, they made a shot. It kept coming back in their favor.”
The Saints took a 44-35 lead into the fourth quarter and boosted it to 46 on two free throws from junior point guard Baily Walden. They ran the lead to 49-36 when freshman wing Alexandra Vandiver hit three free throws after a foul as she attempted a 20-footer.
St. Timothy’s stellar senior guard Aryss Macktoon, who finished with 32 points, then rallied her team. The 6-foot LaSalle commit, who had a quadruple double earlier this season, finished with 32 points, 11 steals, five rebounds and two assists.
Macktoon hit both ends of a one-and-one with 6:38 remaining and then grabbed a defensive rebound. Kira Upton finished at the other end to pull within 49-40. Seconds later, Karmen McDuffie stole the ball and fed Macktoon to pull within 49-42, but they couldn’t maintain the momentum.
In the final 6:12, Harris hit nine of 10 free throws and Walden had a steal and assisted Vandiver as the Saints put the game away despite turning the ball over seven times down the stretch.
St. Tim’s could not take advantage of the gifts as they hit just two of 15 shots the rest of the way. St. Mary’s grabbed 16 of the final 20 rebounds.
“We really played as a team,” Walden said. “That 100 percent made the difference. During the beginning of the season we experienced not as much team ball, but here, we felt like we’re going to win more games against better teams if we use all our abilities together.”
Saints coach Chuck Miller said, “We couldn’t be happier. I thought we beat them about three different times and then we gave it back every time… We probably zoned them more than we did man and we wanted to make them beat us from the outside, because we know they’re bigger and they’re good around the basket… Generally, I think we were fortunate enough to do that.”
Both teams are set to play at the Public vs. Private Challenge Saturday at McDonogh with St. Timothy’s facing Old Mill at 10:30 a.m. on the upper court while the Saints meet Harford Tech at 10:30 on a lower court.
Next Wednesday, the Saints will host Concordia Prep in a game that likely will determine the top seed for the IAAM B Conference tournament.
NO. 12 ST. MARY’S 62, NO. 8 ST. TIMOTHY’S 52
St. Mary’s 18 11 15 18 — 62
St. Tim’othys 10 10 15 17 — 52
St. Mary’s — Baily Walden 16, Anna Ervin 2, Alexandra Vandiver 11, Bailey Harris 29, Gabby Mitchell 2, Mia Novack 2. Totals: 18 19-22 62
St. Tim’othy’s — Khaya Carter 2, Mariah Hardy 2, Aryss Macktoon 32, Karmen McDuffie 8, Kyla Stack 6, Kira Upton 2. Totals: 16 17-28 52.
