Calvert High School girls basketball coaches and players break the huddle prior to the start of the second quarter of last Friday’s 2A South Region playoff opener against La Plata. Calvert led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter then dominated the next two quarters en route to a 58-42 victory over the visiting Warriors.
La Plata High School sophomore Aniyah Sisco gets a high screen from sophomore teammate Makayla Mellon and looks for an open shot in the first half of last Friday’s 2A South Region playoff game at Calvert. Sisco and the Warriors were close early but eventually suffered a 58-42 setback to the host Cavaliers in that contest.
Calvert High School’s Brooke Kidwell brings the ball up court in the first half of last Friday’s 2A South Region playoff game against La Plata. Kidwell and the Cavaliers broke open the game in the second half en route to a 58-42 victory over the visiting Warriors.
Calvert High School’s Kennedy Johns heads to the foul line for a pair of free throws in the second half of last Friday’s 2A South Region game against visiting La Plata, won by the host Cavaliers 58-42.
Calvert High School girls basketball coaches and players break the huddle prior to the start of the second quarter of last Friday’s 2A South Region playoff opener against La Plata. Calvert led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter then dominated the next two quarters en route to a 58-42 victory over the visiting Warriors.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
La Plata High School sophomore Aniyah Sisco gets a high screen from sophomore teammate Makayla Mellon and looks for an open shot in the first half of last Friday’s 2A South Region playoff game at Calvert. Sisco and the Warriors were close early but eventually suffered a 58-42 setback to the host Cavaliers in that contest.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
Calvert High School’s Brooke Kidwell brings the ball up court in the first half of last Friday’s 2A South Region playoff game against La Plata. Kidwell and the Cavaliers broke open the game in the second half en route to a 58-42 victory over the visiting Warriors.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
Calvert High School’s Kennedy Johns heads to the foul line for a pair of free throws in the second half of last Friday’s 2A South Region game against visiting La Plata, won by the host Cavaliers 58-42.
In stark contrast to their initial encounter earlier this season which came down to the last possession, the Calvert High School girls basketball team made quick work of visiting La Plata High last Friday evening en route to a 58-42 victory in their 2A South Region opening round contest.
Calvert (10-13), now winners of seven of its last nine games, had edged La Plata 40-39 when the two teams met on Jan. 13 and owned a modest 15-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter on Friday. La Plata (3-18) ended the opener with a late three-point field goal from sophomore star Aniyah Sisco, who led all SMAC girls players averaging nearly 22 points per game this winter.
While Sisco did her best to keep the Warriors competitive on Feb. 28 and throughout the season, the Cavaliers took control of the game in the early stages of the second quarter. Rhyanna Walsh connected on a three-pointer then junior Brooke Kidwell made a four layups inside over the next three minutes and the Cavaliers owned a comfortable 33-17 lead at the intermission.
“We had a really good week of practice,” Calvert coach Alex Friedman said. “A lot of the credit has to go to our junior varsity girls that we brought up this week. We were down to eight players, so those girls really helped us run our plays and work on our defensive sets.”
Another Walsh three-pointer opened the scoring in the second half and the Cavaliers extended their advantage courtesy of two more buckets inside from Kidwell and two from Abigail Epindendio and the hosts led by as many as 27 points on two occasions before a layup from Sisco and a three-pointer from Mellon narrowed the gap to 48-25.
Sisco gave the visitors a glimmer of hope when she opened the fourth quarter with the Warriors’ first six points to trim the gap to 50-31, but again Kidwell and Epindendio countered with layups.
La Plata ended the game on an extended 11-4 run with buckets from Mellon, Sisco and Zackyra Washington, but the Warriors never got within serious striking distance.
“We had a young team this year, but we have a lot of girls back the next two years and we should have some new girls coming in next year,” said Sisco, whose team opened the season with four straight setbacks and promptly ended it on a four-game skid. “We’re just going to need more time to gel together. I think we can definitely build upon what we did this year.”
On Monday evening, Calvert saw its season come to an end when the Cavaliers were upended by Westlake 43-39. The Wolverines advanced to the 2A South Region final against fellow Charles County squad Thomas Stone, which upset top seed Huntingtown 41-38 also on March 3.
