College of Southern Maryland sophomore guard Amoni Taylor drives to the basket for a layup in last Saturday’s home, non-conference contest against Allegheny County. Taylor and the Hawks suffered a 47-39 setback in that contest.
College of Southern Maryland sophomore guard Desiree Barnes heads to the foul line for a pair of free throws in the first half of last Saturday’s non-conference home game against Allegheny County. Barnes and the Hawks suffered a 47-39 setback in that contest.
College of Southern Maryland sophomore guard Amoni Taylor drives to the basket for a layup in last Saturday’s home, non-conference contest against Allegheny County. Taylor and the Hawks suffered a 47-39 setback in that contest.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
College of Southern Maryland sophomore guard Desiree Barnes heads to the foul line for a pair of free throws in the first half of last Saturday’s non-conference home game against Allegheny County. Barnes and the Hawks suffered a 47-39 setback in that contest.
While the College of Southern Maryland men’s basketball team has arguably the most prolific offense in Region XX, the CSM women’s basketball team has sought to grind out several methodical wins this winter. On Saturday afternoon, however, the Hawks were unable to generate much offense in a 47-39 setback to visiting Allegheny County in a non-conference clash.
CSM (5-8) won only one game last winter under first-year coach Davon Muhammad, a 2008 Gwynn Park High School graduate and recent assistant coach with the North Point High girls’ basketball team now in his second year with the Hawks.
“This group of girls has improved tremendously since the start of the season,” Muhammad said. “They’ve gotten so much better since the start of the year. Today we just had a few lapses in the second and third quarters. That’s when the game got away from us. They showed a lot of fight in the fourth quarter. We just have to do a few things better, like make free throws.”
CSM trailed 12-8 at the end of the first quarter, but things began to slip away from the Hawks in the second. Allegheny opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run for a 21-8 lead, but the Hawks were able to slice that deficit to 26-18 at the intermission. They were, however, unable to carry that momentum into the second half.
As it had done in the second quarter, Allegheny opened the third period with a prolonged 12-2 run for a 38-20 lead and the visitors took a 42-21 advantage into the fourth quarter after limiting the Hawks to only three points in the third. CSM never seriously threatened in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks reduced the final margin below double-digits by scoring 18 points in the final frame.
Allegheny’s Mylee Young led all scorers with 17 points, while Katie Johnson added 10 and Lannie Henning had eight. Cailyn Samuel led the Hawks with 10 points in a losing cause, while Demi Lathern added eight points and Amoni Taylor contributed six.
Like the CSM men’s team, the Hawks’ women will return to action this Saturday, Jan. 24, at home against Potomac State then will host Howard Community College on Jan. 28 and await Hagerstown the following Saturday, Jan. 31.
Four of the Hawks first five games in February will also be at home before the team ends the season at Garrett on Feb. 25.
