Western girls basketball falls to North Point, 61-30, in Class 4A state championship game
COLLEGE PARK — For the Western Doves, the trip down I-95 to College Park was a chance to show that their dominance in Baltimore City was not a fluke. Unfortunately for the Doves, they picked the wrong team to try and prove that against.
North Point of Charles County outscored, outrebounded and outdefended the Doves and coasted to a 61-30 win in the Maryland Class 4A State Championship at the University of Maryland’s Xfinity Center in College Park.
How dominant was the effort? For the game, North Point (24-3) outshot Western 47.9% to 18.9%. The Eagles played defense so well that they held Western (22-4) to one assist during the game, as trips down the floor were usually one and done.
Dottie Eatmon led the Eagles with 16 points, while Western’s Jaden Hunt paced the Doves with seven points.
Western was trying to win its fourth state title, but its first since 2002.
The title was the second for the Eagles, who last won it in 2013. The victory was also the 300th win in coach Michael Serpone’s career.
“We dominated. Our defense was our calling card all season,” Serpone said. “That’s what we hang our hats on. That’s exactly what we did tonight. We came out and dominated defensively.”
In the early going, the Doves were their own worst enemy. Their first few trips down the floor, Western had trouble with the height and physical nature of the North Point defense. The Doves would repeatedly come up empty trip after trip in their offensive end.
After a few trips, the shots finally started falling for North Point. The Eagles got baskets from Eatmon, Karrington Boyd and two from Mya Gant to take a 10-0 lead and force Western coach Tosha Townsend to call a time out with 3:42 left in the first quarter.
The Doves gradually started to play better later in the first quarter and early in the second. Taliyah Bailey, Iyana Bell and Jaden Hunt – who had a basket and a free throw, all scored to cut the lead to 10-6 with 6:22 left in the first half.
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Just when it appeared Western was starting to cut into the lead, North Point went on a 7-4 run to take a 17-10 lead into the halftime break.
Unfortunately for the Doves, the second half wasn’t much better than the first. After a layup by Kayla Maxwell made it 19-12 with 6:20 left in the third quarter, North Point’s defense held the Doves scoreless for over two and a half minutes. By the time Western hit a free throw with 3:44 left in the quarter, the Eagles had a 29-13 lead. North Point just continued to grow the lead from that point and Western just couldn’t keep up.
“Nothing worked. We knew how to execute, we just didn’t.” Doves coach Tasha Townsend said. “For whatever reason, our girls just couldn’t get going. They wanted it more than we did.”
Townsend said the undoing of her team was more on the Doves than on North Point.
“At the end, we needed more and we just didn’t have it,” she said. “Today we didn’t play good basketball, so we didn’t win. They were only up seven at the break. All we needed was two stops and we’re right back in the game. They were trying to was rush the comeback. It was two passes and a shot. That’s where the game got away from us.”
Townsend said she looks forward to the future with this team.
“We only have one senior. Maybe now they’ve gotten a taste [of being here] and the chemistry will be better. I went them to know that being here is the goal of my program every year.”
Maryland Class 4A State Championship
North Point 61, Western 30
North Point 10 7 29 15 — 61
Western 2 8 13 7 — 30
NORTH POINT – Woodward 10, Burwell 3, Eatmon 16, Gant 12, Boyd 4, Lathern 6, Ijezie 6, Rapp 3, Smith 1.
WESTERN – Bailey 6, Byrd 2, Maxwell 4, Hunt 7, Bell 2, Knight 6, Jackson 3.
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