Bill Ryan/The Gazette South Carroll’s Margaret Payne is shown Dec. 9 during a game against Gov. Thomas Johnson High School.

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One practice, or roughly two hours, is all Ben Lewis had under his belt when he took the floor Dec. 7 against Smithsburg High.

It been had only four days since he’d hung up his football cleats after scoring a pair of touchdowns in Middletown High School’s 43-6 drubbing of Prince George’s County representative Frederick Douglass in the Class 2A state finals, and Lewis out of sync in his high tops.

“[The football players] came out Wednesday not even knowing the plays,” he said. “We were going out there and kind of street balling it.”

Rusty as he may have been, Lewis did score 12 points in helping the Knights to a 61-41 victory. Connor Mills had 14 to pace Middletown.

Lewis hadn’t used his “basketball muscles” since last March — something he was keenly aware of Thursday morning.

“It’s a different kind of shape between football and basketball,” Lewis said. “I was definitely sore.”

Winter sports opened training camp Nov. 15. By Thanksgiving most basketball coaches had their 12 to 15-man roster set. But Middletown coach Aaron White was practicing with less than 10 players.

Lewis was one of a handful of footballers who intended to try out for varsity basketball. White held an impromptu tryout early last week and kept four — Lewis, Michael Pritts, Jack Panther and Paul Aniugo — of the six who came out. The Knights finally boast their full compliment of 14 players.

“It feels good,” White said. “They’re coming along and getting in shape. The camaraderie is great. Everyone is supporting each other. Our bench was really into it our first game and you can tell they’re just excited to be out here.”

White has dealt with circumstances like this before. Just last year, in his rookie campaign, he had to wait for the football team’s season to conclude, which it finally did in the state finals.

Working with opponents, the Knights were able to postpone three games in order to better accommodate the return of the football players. The Dec. 5 season opener at Winters Mill was moved to Feb. 13. Contests against Francis Scott Key and Urbana also were pushed back to Jan. 11 and 18, respectively.

“It definitely helps us out a lot,” Lewis said.

‘Shooter’ pushes Thomas Johnson girls over edge

Nearly every time Maggie Payne touched the ball Friday, Gov. Thomas Johnson girls basketball coach Darryl Whiten shouted "shooter." But almost 12 minutes into the game, the South Carroll senior guard still hadn't made a jumper.

That didn't stop Whiten from yelling or Payne from shooting when she found herself open at the top of the key midway through the second quarter.

Her 3-pointer was her only points of the night, but the Cavaliers still won, 58-40.

"She's good at finding those spaces," Padgett said. "So, her job is to find that space, and if she's open, shoot it. I don't care if she's 0-for-10. ... When she's got percentages like she does, we'll take these nights.

“And I mean, imagine if she was hitting tonight."

If Payne had matched her shooting from South Carroll's season-opening win over Linganore on Dec. 5, Friday's game likely would have been a rout. Unlike previous seasons, when she was a 3-point specialist off the bench, Payne contributed by doing more than scoring. A starter this season, she moved well without the ball to space the floor, passed crisply and played sound post defense. In fact, Payne just ceded point guard duties to Nikki Heim, who returned from injury to hand out 10 assists Friday.

"Maggie knows what her limitations are and what her good things are," Padgett said. "She knows she's a great shooter. She knows she can handle the ball. She knows her limitations are foot speed, so she knows where to be on defense and how to play position-wise. So she's a much smarter player who wants to play the bigger role."

-Elizabeth Catoe had 20 points, nine steals and five assists to lead the New Life Christian School girls basketball team to a 58-47 win over Calvary Christian Academy on Dec. 6.

Aileen Maknati had 11 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals for New Life. Tirza Vick had 11 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Allison Sammick added nine points and seven rebounds.

-Erica Buls scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Oakdale girls basketball team to a 49-33 win over Williamsport on Dec. 7.

Jordan Parke had nine points and four rebounds for Oakdale. Melanie Flatter had eight points and had three steals, and Dani Tunnell scored all eight of her points on 10 free-throw attempts.

dfeldman@gazette.net; tmcelwee@gazette.net