Park Girls Post Back To Back Wins

“Team Peaking At the Right Time”

By Amy Russell
The Severna Park girls basketball team started the month of February in fine form with back-to-back wins over Old Mill, 51-38, and Southern, 71-47. The win over Southern on Friday, February 4, gave the Lady Falcons a winning record of 9-8.
The two games were critical, after Severna Park suffered back-to-back losses against South River and Meade the week before.

“Going in we knew we really needed to win,” said sophomore guard Erin Crowley. “We lost a couple of games we should have won and we knew we needed to get back on track.”
Her teammates seemed to agree. “We were confident we could win this one,” added sophomore guard Mikayla Jerkins. “I think we knew we could do it.”
Severna Park pulled away to an early 23-11 lead in the first quarter, and extended it by outscoring the Bulldogs 17-9 in the second, to head into halftime with a comfortable 40-20 margin.
The Falcons’ defense seemed to lose some intensity giving up a few more points, 27, in the second half.
According to junior guard Paige Briganti, “The team started to shut down a little when [they] got ahead.”
Luckily, their offense remained stout, scoring another 32 points in the second half to keep the solid lead in tact in route to a comfortable 25 point win.
Severna Park’s season started off slow with four consecutive losses to county opponents Arundel and South River, and non-county opponents St. Mary’s and Joppatowne. Their season started to turn around December 17 when they posted a 55-53 win over Southern - a much narrower victory than the recent blowout - which demonstrates just how far the Falcon’s have come over the six weeks since that first victory against the Bulldogs.
From there, Severna Park earned another win outscoring Northeast by an almost 2-1 margin, 62-35. The Falcons then fell short against Mount Heron and Glenelg, but got back on track in a big way with a lopsided 70-20 win over county rival Chesapeake.
The team took that momentum and ran with it, earning perhaps one of the sweetest victories of the season, 56-42, over cross-town rival Broadneck. Severna Park continued to dominate county play with wins over Annapolis and Arundel before they hit a slump in late January against South River and Meade.
Of late, the Falcons seem to have found their stride and are playing more cohesively on both sides of the floor.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” Briganti said, referring to the quickly approaching county tournament.
Severna Park will take on Severn School on Thursday, February 10, at 5:30pm at Severn School. Then, on Saturday, February 12 at noon, Severna Park will travel to Broadneck to play in the “Hoops for a Cure” event. Those attending are being asked to wear pink to the game, a fund-raiser for breast cancer research and awareness. Admission is $5 and donations will be accepted at the door and online - by visiting http://annapoliswellnesshouse.com fans can donate money on behalf of either school. The school that raises the most money will be recognized during the game.