WCAC Girls' Semifinals
McNamara and Good Counsel Advance to Final
Bishop McNamara's Ebony Edwards drives and his fouled by Holy Cross's Akilah Bethel en route to McNamara's 54-50 win, which earned the Mustangs a spot in the WCAC final.
(Joel Richardson - TWP)
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Monday, February 25, 2008
The grind of a basketball season can boil down to a timely spurt, and it was just such a bump that No. 11 Bishop McNamara felt in the third quarter yesterday of its Washington Catholic Athletic Conference 54-50 semifinal win over Holy Cross at Bender Arena.
In a back-and-forth game against the defending league champion, McNamara rattled off nine straight points in the last three minutes of the third period to take a lead that it never relinquished.
To the Mustangs, who weathered a three-point first quarter, the surge was palpable.
"Most definitely," said McNamara senior guard Ebony Edwards, who scored a team-high 12 points. "Everybody just got excited and we kept the momentum up."
McNamara (22-7) advanced to the WCAC championship game to face No. 5 Good Counsel (28-2) at 6 tonight at Bender Arena. In yesterday's first semifinal, Good Counsel ran off its 24th consecutive win with a 56-37 victory over St. John's to return to the league title game for the third time in four years.
McNamara lost twice to Good Counsel during the regular season, including 59-58 in overtime Feb. 1, the teams' most recent meeting.
"Round 3. That's all I can say is Round 3," said McNamara Coach Robert Surratt, whose team last won the WCAC crown in 2003. "This will be what everybody wanted to see -- they wanted number 1 [in the league] vs. number 2 in the championship, and that's what we're going to give them."
Ten players scored for the Mustangs yesterday, but spotty free throw shooting in the final minute enabled Holy Cross to keep it interesting. The Tartans hit two three-pointers in the final 25 seconds, and trailed by three when Edwards went to the foul line with 6.9 seconds left. She missed the first but sank the second to put her team up four and avert any overtime-forcing dramatics.
Senior guard Shontice Simmons led Holy Cross (20-10) with 15 points, and junior guard Lia Henry added 14.
"We saw at the end what our team is capable of doing," said Tartans Coach Russell Davis, who had most of the standouts off his 2007 league champion team graduate. Holy Cross posted its third straight 20-win season.
In the first semifinal, Good Counsel guard-forward Shanel Harrison scored 23 points, including four three-pointers, and junior guard-forward Sarian Snyder added 12 points.
"I just took what they gave me," Harrison said. "Usually, I like to drive. But if you're going to give me the three, I'll take what I have."
St. John's, in a rebuilding phase, finished 14-14 and started no seniors. Junior forward Dymond James led the team with 14 points.
Up Next: Good Counsel vs. McNamara in today's final at 6 p.m. at AU's Bender Arena.
Construction Job:"It's just like building a house -- one brick at a time," Good Counsel Coach Tom Splaine said of his team's 24-game winning streak.
