Gazette.Net: Damascus overcomes slow start, beats Poolesville
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Photo's from Friday's game

At the beginning of the season, Lauren Green was a reserve for the Damascus High School girls basketball team. But as the games progressed, the sophomore combo guard worked her way into a more prominent role.

On Friday, Green earned a spot in the starting lineup and scored a team-high 14 points to lead the visiting eighth-ranked Swarmin’ Hornets past 3A/2A Division foe and tenth-ranked Poolesville, 49-45.

“Lauren hasn’t played as much as some of the other girls,” Damascus coach Steve Pisarski said. “But she has a real knack for scoring. When she shoots the ball and it goes up, I really feel like it is going to go in.”

Green and classmate Kelli Prange (12 points) consistently drove into the paint and combined for 15 of their team’s 19 points during the fourth quarter to complete a comeback that saw Damascus (11-4 overall, 8-0 3A/2A Division) trail by as many as 10 points in the opening half.

“We weren’t intense or focused to start the game and that caused us to turn the ball over a lot,” Green said. “That changed after halftime.”

In the opening quarter, Poolesville (8-5, 6-2) controlled the pace and created several turnovers and in turn, scored easily in transition. Whitney Carmack eventually gave the Falcons a 10-2 advantage with 2 minutes, 37 seconds remaining in the period.

The Falcons’, who built their lead despite not receiving a scoring contribution in the first quarter from guard Lindsay Poss (20.3 points per game), Montgomery County’s second leading scorer, momentum carried over early into the second and their advantage grew to 18-8 midway through the period on a Poss basket. Damascus then responded and ended the half of a 9-0 run; the final four points coming via Green buckets.

“We got down 10-2 and when we play Poolesville, the games are generally lower scoring so it felt like a little bit more,” Pisarski said. “They played hard and forced us into a lot of mistakes. We were only down one at halftime and I considered that to be very lucky. ... Jenna [Kaufman] really played outstanding defense pressuring [point guard Kelsey] Carnahan and the ball denial helped disrupt their offense.”

Poolesville, however, maintained and increased its lead to 29-24 following a Poss layup midway through the third, but Damascus rallied again and a Green jumper cut the deficit to 32-30 at the buzzer.

Damascus took just its second advantage, 39-38, of the contest with 4:19 remaining when Kaufman converted a layup in transition off a steal and it would not relinquish their lead. With 65 seconds remaining, Poss made it a one possession game by converting a pair of free throws, but Green answered with a field goal to push the advantage back to five, 47-42.

“It is a lot disappointing,” said Poss, whose team has only lost to Damascus, Gaithersburg, Northwest and Walt Whitman and should be favored in its remaining games. “We had an opportunity to make a statement, but we just did not hit shots. My teammates did a great job getting a lead, but fouls hurt us. Damascus did a good job getting into the lane and getting foul shots.”

kzakour@gazette.net

Damascus 49, Poolesville 45

Damascus (11-4, 8-0) 5 12 13 19 — 49

Poolesville (8-5, 6-2) 10 8 14 13 — 45

Damascus — Kaufman 7, Ke. Prange 12, Barrett 1, Mahon 5, Derby 8, Green 14, Warfield 2.

Poolesville — Bodmer 7, Carnahan 5, Maloney 5, Hughes 7, Carmack 2, Poss 17, Barry 2.