During the first half of last night's girls' basketball game between No. 19 Gwynn Park and visiting Douglass, Yellow Jackets Coach Marvin Vann wondered if his players were taking the Eagles seriously.
After harsh words for his team at halftime, a different Gwynn Park team emerged from the locker room. Forward Lakia Barber led the Yellow Jackets' charge in the third quarter, scoring 12 of her game-high 18 points and helping Gwynn Park turn a three-point halftime lead into a 20-point advantage by the end of the quarter. The Yellow Jackets cruised the rest of the way, earning a 60-36 win over Douglass in Brandywine.
Shadara Peters of Douglass, left, and Gwynn Park's Lakiah Barber battle for a loose ball. Injuries forced Douglass to finish with only six players.
(Toni L. Sandys -- The Washington Post)
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"I probably got a little loud," Vann said of his halftime message. "I was frustrated with my kids because I think they underestimated Douglass's talent. There was a lack of concentration and a lack of focus."
Gwynn Park (10-2, 8-0 Prince George's 3A/2A) scored 24 points in the third quarter after scoring 22 in the first half. The difference was a determined effort to get the ball inside and take it strong to the basket. Gwynn Park scored 18 of its third-quarter points on layups or short jumpers.
"We tried to play with more intensity and transition better in the second half," Barber said. "We didn't come to play in the first half."
Vann said he needs more players to take leadership roles the rest of the season because this is a team with just two starters back from last year. Gwynn Park -- which has won three straight state championships -- starts just one senior.
"We've got to be unselfish and we've got to be focused. An awful lot of teams want to beat us," Vann said. "I need leadership, and I think they're there and I think [Barber and Lakiah Hyson] are emerging."
Both teams had trouble getting started in the first half, combining to make seven field goals in the opening quarter, leaving the score tied at 8. Douglass (6-5, 6-2) started the game with only eight healthy players, but that number was reduced to seven less than two minutes in when junior guard Vanessa Siberon, the Eagles' leading scorer, went down with a knee injury.
"We ran out of bodies tonight," said Douglass Coach Ed Cowan, who also lost guard Vanessa Lamison -- his team's second-leading scorer -- midway through the third quarter with a thumb injury. "We were just down to six bodies. We're just going to regroup and keep working, we're not quitting."
Lamison led Douglass with 11 points, and senior center Shadara Peters added 10.
