By Dave Yanovitz and Jeff Nelson
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Senior Deanna Dydynski has been the catalyst for No. 13 Mount Hebron during its undefeated season, so it was fitting she made the perfect pass at the perfect time, assisting on the game-winning basket in the Vikings' 47-44 victory over Atholton in last night's Howard County girls' championship.

With the Vikings trailing 45-44, Dydynski fired a bullet pass to teammate Megan Schaaf under the basket with 22 seconds to play. Schaaf hit the layup for a one-point lead.

Atholton missed a shot with 15 seconds left, but the Raiders (18-5) got it back after a mad scramble down the length of the court. With nine seconds left, Mount Hebron's Qiana Coleman stole a pass, but Atholton forced a jump ball and retained possession. On its third attempt at the win, senior Lorri Toler missed a shot with one second left.

Brittany Bowen hit two free throws to seal the game for Mount Hebron, which is 23-0 and remains one of two unbeaten Washington area teams.

"Our girls all year, what I like about this group is that in pressure situations they're not afraid to take the shots. And they're clutch. It's a total tribute to the girls," said Vikings Coach Scott Robinson, whose team won its second county title in his 11 years.

Poor foul shooting doomed Atholton in the fourth quarter, which began with Mount Hebron ahead by one. The Raiders hit 1 of 8 free throws. Mount Hebron hit 4 of 6.

Dydynski had a game-high 15 points, and she added five rebounds and two steals. Junior Brittany Bowen scored 13 (including 6 of 6 from the line) with four steals, while Schaaf had nine points and four rebounds.

Atholton's two tallest players, Toler (6 feet) and 5-10 senior Taylor Chapman, caused problems for a smaller Mount Hebron team. Toler had five blocked shots, and Chapman had a game-high 10 rebounds. Elie Snyder led Atholton with 14 points.

"We tried to pump fake on the big girls" said Dydynski, whose team trailed by six at halftime. "We were getting outhustled. But we just pulled it together at the end. That's why I love this team."

Arundel's girls and Old Mill's boys claimed Anne Arundel County championships at North County, though the two teams went about it in different ways.

The Arundel girls made it look easy with a 78-51 win over Old Mill, while the Old Mill boys made it hard on themselves in a 74-70 victory against Arundel.

The Patriots boys never surrendered the lead after taking it in the second quarter, but they couldn't quite pull away thanks to a 17-of-45 performance from the free throw line.

Old Mill (21-2) did make four from the line in the final minute, however, and avenged one of its two regular season losses, the first of which came at home to Arundel (18-5) in mid-January.

The Patriots have won county titles three of the past four seasons.

"We're a strong team," said senior Deonte' Puller, who had 14 points. "To come back and play after a loss like that at our home place, it means a lot for us.

As for the title, he said, "Three times out of four feels great."

The Arundel girls (18-5), meantime, have won 11 county titles and six straight.

Against county teams in the past six seasons, the Wildcats are 94-2 in the regular season (including a current 58-game winning streak), 6 for 6 in league titles (though they shared the first one when the championship game was snowed out) and 12-2 in regional games.

Amazing as this run has been, the Wildcats are well aware that one of those two postseason losses came last year against Old Mill (17-5) after Arundel had beaten the Patriots in the league final.