Spalt Named All-Tournament As Harford Women’s Basketball Drops Two Straight To Open Season

From the HCC sports desk…

BEL AIR, Md.—Freshman Sarah Spalt (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) was named to the Third Annual Harford Tip-Off Classic All-Tournament team as the Harford women’s basketball teams opened the 2008-09 campaign with two straight losses over the weekend.

Spalt tallied 17 total points and 13 rebounds for the weekend while shooting 9-for-12 from the free throw line. The rookie put up four points and grabbed five boards in the Fighting Owls’ (0-2) 85-33 loss to Delaware Tech on Saturday and then added 13 points and eight rebounds in Sunday’s 57-50 setback to Salem.

The Owls were plagued with a dismal 22.5% field goal percentage in the loss to the Spirit (2-0) in their season-opener, and connected on just two buckets in the first half, with 12:30 between those field goals.

Freshman Kiara Reeves (Aberdeen, Md./C. Milton Wright) led Harford with six points overall, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, while Dohnay Banice, who was also named to the All-Tournament team, came just one point and one rebound away from a double-double for the Spirit and Rayona Benson led Del Tech with 14 total points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field. Fellow All-Tournament honoree Shyntae Christmas added nine points and three boards of her own in the win over Harford.

Banice and Christmas added 12 points and 14 rebounds and 22 points and five rebounds, respectively in their 69-40 win over Anne Arundel on Sunday, securing a share of the championship title along with Salem.

Shaquasha Sharper was the Oaks (2-0) designee to the All-Tournament team, putting up a double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds in Salem’s day 73-62 day one win over Anne Arundel and added her second double-double of the weekend with 18 points and 11 boards in the Oaks’ 57-50 win over Harford.

Sophomore Jasmine Parsons (Edgewood, Md./Joppatowne) tallied a double-double for the Owls as well, totaling 14 points and 11 rebounds, and shooting 7-for-9 from the field.
Harford saw itself down 24-5 with 8:55 remaining in the first half, but ran off 15 straight points over the next 5:51 to cut the deficit to four points with 3:04 to go, ending the half down just six points, 29-23.

The Owls cut Salem’s lead to three points on five different occasions—the last occurring with 1:26 left in the second half with the Oaks up, 53-50, but could not come any closer as they fell, 57-50.
Ashley Hansen led the Oaks in the win, totaling 20 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds and shooting 2-for-3 from beyond the arc as she helped Salem to a share of the championship.

The only other player named to the All-Tournament team was Anne Arundel’s Danielle Webber, who totaled 11 points and 23 rebounds on the weekend.

The Fighting Owls return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 11 when they kick off a three-game roadstand at Montgomery College-Rockville at 7:00 p.m.