Girls Basketball: New Town, Owings Mills Coast Into Region Semifinals

As an assistant coach on last year’s squad, New Town’s Gena Young remembers the anguish of last season’s first round playoff knockout at the hands of Patterson Mill.

Handed the reigns as the head coach this year, Young is proud to say her girls won’t be one-and-done in 2012.

Tuesday night, behind a quick start and a pressuring defense, the second seeded Titans cruised past Havre de Grace, 64-18, to move on into the Class 1A North semifinals. New Town will host the winner of Pikesville and Friendship Academy of Science and Technology.  

“It’s a wonderful feeling. Last year we were out. It was frustrating. [This year] it’s not a one-and-done,” Young said.

“Our defensive pressure was much better, and we did a much better job making of layups. Transition, looking for each other, those sort of things we did a good job of.”

The Titans were paced by freshman guard Sydney Hines, who netted a game-high 24 points to go along with seven steals, five rebounds and three assists.

Fellow freshman Keyaira Wilson tallied 14 points and harassed opposing ball handlers to the tune of a game-high 10 steals.

Havre de Grace started slow out of the gate, failing to get on the scoreboard until Emilee Bubb sank a free throw with just over a minute to play in the first quarter. As a result, the Titans staked themselves out to an 11-1 lead and went into the half ahead 29-9.

Two hours earlier a couple miles down Owings Mills Boulevard, the Eagles advanced to the Class 2A North semifinals in similar blowout fashion.

Owings Mills downed visiting Lake Clifton, 57-24, and will play the winner of Lansdowne and Chesapeake (Baltimore County) on Wednesday.

The Eagles were led by a solid all-around effort from sophomore Briana Bull, who finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Forward Danielle McIntosh controlled the paint with a game-high 15 points to go with ten boards.

“It’s a good way to start it off, get out and get some momentum going into the next round,” Eagles head coach Donchez Graham said. “The competition is going to get tougher so we got to be tougher.”  

Already on top 36-16 at intermission, Owings Mills continued to pour on the defensive pressure and allowed only eight Lakers points in the final two quarters. Lake Clifton guard Rachel Black tallied 12 points, equaling the combined total of her teammates.

“They really stepped up today,” Graham said. “Defensively they stopped the ball and that really set the pace for us.”