Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008
Capturing Potomac Valley Athletic Conference tournament titles would have been a perfect end to a pair of improbable seasons by the Covenant Life girls and Barrie boys basketball teams.
After all, each team had overcome a slew of key personnel losses this season, especially the Covenant Life girls, en route to PVAC North Division regular-season titles. Each then went on to win two league tournament games to reach Saturday’s tournament finals at Trinity College in Northeast Washington, D.C.
But a sluggish finish by the Covenant Life girls and a slow start by the Barrie boys led to losses of 61-44 to Grace Brethren (22-5 record) for Covenant Life and 55-41 to the Field School (18-4) for Barrie Saturday night.
Marshall-less plan
Covenant Life’s story is perhaps the most compelling since the Cougars lost two of the county’s most dynamic players in Ellen Marshall to graduation and Kara Marshall to transfer to Gaithersburg High. The sisters produced an average of roughly 30 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and eight steals a game last year. Kara was an eighth-grader last winter.
Despite their absence, the Cougars compiled a 16-5 record this fall that included a tie for first place in the PVAC’s North Division with McLean. They ultimately received the top seed to the conference tournament through a coin flip and managed wins over Washington Waldorf and Oakcrest to reach the tourney final for the fourth straight year.
‘‘We wanted to show everyone we don’t need any Marshalls to win,” said Covenant Life senior guard Grace Breitenbach, who paced her squad Saturday with 14 points, including two 3-pointers. ‘‘No one expected us to get this far.”
The Cougars, which lost just two league games this winter, looked like they would be able to finish this year’s championship run – as a heavy favorite last year, they lost 52-43 to Grace Brethren – taking leads of 19-15 after one quarter and 29-27 into halftime behind some hot shooting by Breitenbach and fellow senior Taylor Ferry (13 points, eight rebounds), a five-year varsity player.
‘‘We lost a lot of talent but senior leadership [was the difference],” said first-year Cougars coach David Marable, whose other senior starter was his daughter Anna. ‘‘Grace and Taylor are two of the best 3-point shooters in the league. Anna is a key defensive player. It was a team effort.”
A total of seven players scored for the Cougars in the first half, including 11 from Breitenbach and eight from Ferry, who made three 3-pointers for the game. Keeping Grace Brethren in striking distance was finals Most Valuable Player Andrea Jones, who poured in 15 of her game-best 21 points in the first 16 minutes.
Led by the inside play of Jamea Rawles (16 points, seven rebounds), however, the Eagles took flight in the third quarter, opening up a 41-34 lead it never relinquished. Rawles produced 10 points in the quarter to single-handedly outscore Covenant Life, which struggled mightily from the field and was unable to get into an offense flow because of numerous turnovers the entire second half.
The Eagles put the game away by making 10 free throws in the fourth quarter and seven points from Brija Johnson.
‘‘We came out and played hard but they came out and played even harder,” Ferry said.
Mustangs slow out of gate
The last time Barrie played Field, it held the South Division champions to a mere 30 points en route to a 33-30 win. When the first quarter came to a close Saturday night, however, Field had nearly matched that mark with 20 points, forcing the Mustangs to play catch-up the rest of the way.
Unfortunately for Barrie, it never did - catch up that is - denying the team, which boasted just one senior, its first PVAC tournament title since the 2001-02 season.
‘‘They just didn’t miss,” said Mustangs senior guard Adrian Masone, whose team was out-scored 20-8 in the first quarter.
Field nailed four 3-pointers in the first quarter, including three by Alex Roppolo, who finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and led 27-17 at halftime. Barrie, which had three players foul out and was in constant foul trouble, closed to within five points twice in the fourth quarter behind the play of freshman Miles Jackson (10 points, seven rebounds) and Bobby Yancey (12 points), but miscues and errant shots allowed the Falcons, who also received 10 points and 12 rebounds from Richard Jackson and made 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, to pull away for good.
‘‘It was mostly turnovers,” Mustangs coach Jack Mitchell said. ‘‘We couldn’t get a shot attempt. It’s a credit to [Field].”
The bright spot is that Barrie returns four starters among a host of other players. ‘‘We’re already hopeful for next year,” Mitchell said.
