From the HCC sports desk:
BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford women’s basketball team held just a 31-29 lead at the half, but never let Cumberland come closer than two points away in the second, as it downed the Dukes (3-10), 59-50, on Thursday night at Susquehanna Center.
The Fighting Owls (3-9) halted a two-game losing skid after falling to Cecil last Saturday and to Frederick on Tuesday, both games on the road.
Freshman Kiara Reeves (Aberdeen, Md./C. Milton Wright) led the way for the Owls as she recorded her third straight, and fifth season, double-double with 18 points and a season-high 16 rebounds, while shooting 7-for-15 from the field and tying a season-high four blocks.
Sophomore Jasmine Parsons (Edgewood, Md./Joppatowne) also tallied a double-double, her second of the season, with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting 3-for-4 from the line and blocking three shots, while freshman Brittany Mears (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) added 13 of her own, shooting 5-for-12 and 3-for-5 from long-range.
Jade Ferguson led the way for the Dukes with 23 points on 8-for-22 shooting, 3-for-9 from behind the arc, and Kathy Jakucki was just one board away from a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Cumberland controlled the game early, jumping out to a 9-2 lead just five minutes into the half, but a 6-0 run by Harford which saw a free throw by Parsons and a trey and layup by Mears put the Owls within one, 9-8.
Another three by Mears followed by a Reeves layup and-one completed a four-minute, 12-5, run for Harford as they knotted the score at 14 with 11:41 to play.
A layup by Melissa Dunckley would put the Dukes up by two, 16-14 at the 11:20 and after a two-minute scoring drought, the Owls tied the score and took their first lead, 18-16 at 8:27 thanks to a layup from Reeves, a steal by Mears on the Cumberland possession and a second-chance layup by Reeves.
Reeves would tally another layup a minute later to put Harford up by four, 20-16, but a 7-2 run by the Dukes over the next two minutes put Cumberland up, 23-22, with 5:37 to go.
The two teams would trade baskets three times to give the Owls a one-point lead, the Dukes a two-point lead, knot the score at 26, give Harford a two-point lead, and finally knot the score at 28 with 3:09 remaining in the half.
Neither team would score for a full two minutes, until Harford finally notched a free throw by Parsons to take a 29-28 lead with 1:04 to go, only to have Cumberland score a free throw of its own with 34 seconds left to tie the game at 29.
Parsons would add two more points from the stripe with 20 seconds left and the Owls would carry a 31-29 lead into the half, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
Both offenses were stagnant to start the second half, as neither team scored for a full three minutes that saw a combined five turnovers, and seven missed shots.
Parsons broke the silence at the 16:55 mark with a layup to give Harford a 33-29 lead and the Owls would tack on another six points that saw a Reeves layup, two free throws from sophomore Hillary Scroggins (Riverside, Md./Tome), and a jumper from Mears to complete an 8-0 run and take a 39-29 lead.
The Dukes finally scored their first points of the half as Ferguson converted on two free throws over five minutes into the period at the 14:46 mark.
A two-and-a-half minute drought was broken by Jakucki at the 12:19 mark as she cut the Cumberland deficit to six, 39-33, and a bucket by Heather Brogen trimmed the lead to four, 39-35, with 11:43 left.
Reeves put the Owls up by six, 41-35, with a layup at 11:04, but a jumper by Ferguson and two Jakucki free throws a minute-and-a-half later put the Dukes within two, 41-39 with 9:19 to go.
It would be the closest that Cumberland would come to the Owls for the rest of the contest as Harford would go on a 10-0 run over the next 3:30 to take a 12-point, 51-39, lead with 5:37 left to play.
The Dukes would cut the deficit to single-digits on three more occasions, but couldn’t overcome the powerful inside presence of Harford as the Owls pulled out the 59-50 victory.
Harford held a 38-18 advantage on points in the paint for the game and 16-6 differential on second chance points, while tallying 20 points in the paint to Cumberland’s four in the second half.
The Fighting Owls return to action on Saturday when they travel to conference-foe Garrett for a 5:00 p.m. matchup.
Newspaper Box Score
Cumberland vs Harford
1/8/09 6:00 p.m. at Bel Air, Md.
At Bel Air, Md.
HARFORD 59, CUMBERLAND 50
CUMBERLAND (3-10)
Ferguson, Jade 8-22 4-8 23; Jakucki, Kathy 5-16 4-4 14; Dunckley, Melissa
3-10 0-0 6; Brogen, Heather 1-6 2-6 4; Loftus, Kaitlyn 1-6 0-0 3; Wells,
Crystal 0-1 0-0 0; McRea, Jocelyn 0-4 0-2 0. Totals 18-65 10-20 50.
HARFORD (3-9)
Reeves, Kiara 7-15 4-9 18; Parsons, Jasmine 5-15 3-4 13; Mears, Brittany
5-12 0-2 13; Scroggins, Hillary 3-4 2-2 8; Fox, Marie 2-7 1-2 5; Jones,
Kelsey 1-2 0-0 2; Miller, Sarah 0-2 0-0 0; Lehnert, Kathleen 0-1 0-0 0;
Bond, Natasha 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 10-19 59.
Cumberland 29 21 50
Harford 31 28 59
3-point goals–Cumberland 4-13 (Ferguson, Jade 3-9; Loftus, Kaitlyn 1-3;
Brogen, Heather 0-1), Harford 3-6 (Mears, Brittany 3-5; Fox, Marie 0-1).
Fouled out–Cumberland-None, Harford-None. Rebounds–Cumberland 34 (Jakucki,
Kathy 9; Loftus, Kaitlyn 9), Harford 56 (Reeves, Kiara 16).
Assists–Cumberland 13 (Brogen, Heather 5; Loftus, Kaitlyn 5), Harford 10
(Scroggins, Hillary 3). Total fouls–Cumberland 13, Harford 13. Technical
fouls–Cumberland-None, Harford-None. A-57
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.