Harford Women’s Basketball Struggles with Miscues; Falls to Howard, 63-45

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford women’s basketball team was plagued by turnovers, as it fell 63-45, on Wednesday night as part of a doubleheader with the men’s team at Susquehanna Center.

The Fighting Owls (1-6, 0-2 MDJUCO) committed 33 turnovers, but the Dragons (4-1, 1-0 MDJUCO) did not fare much better, turning over the ball 22 times themselves.

Freshman Kiara Reeves (Aberdeen, Md./C. Milton Wright) led the Owls with a double-double on the night, putting up 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, while also dishing out three assists. Freshman Sarah Spalt (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) was just one board shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, as well as six blocks while shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line as she played every minute of the game.

Alyssa Montgomery had a huge night for the Dragons, tallying 22 points on 10-for-22 shooting from the field and pulling down 25 rebounds while also blocking five Harford shots.

Howard controlled the game from the start, running up a 9-0 lead on Harford to start the game and the Owls would come no closer than six points the entire 20:00, with eight of their 19 total points coming from Spalt including all six of her foul shots and five blocks. Harford shot a dismal 23.1% from the floor in the first stanza and committed 23 turnovers as Howard took a 31-19 lead at the half.

The second 20:00 didn’t see much better results for the Owls as they managed to complete just 26.8% of their shots, though they did win the turnover battle, taking away 11 balls from the Dragons while losing just 10 of their own.

The deficit from the first half was too much for Harford to overcome as they played down by double-digit points the entire second half, but they did manage to just about equal the Dragons’ offensive output, scoring 26 points to Howard’s 32 in the second half for a final of 63-45.

The Fighting Owls return to action next Saturday when they will take part in another double-header with the men’s team, this time hosting Baltimore City at 1:00 p.m. for a game that will be tape delayed by the Harford Cable Network.

Newspaper Box Score
Howard vs Harford
12/3/08 6:00 p.m. at Bel Air, Md.
At Bel Air, Md.
HOWARD 63, HARFORD 45
HOWARD (4-1, 1-0 MDJUCO)
Montgomery, Alyssa 10-22 2-3 22; Schwartz, Amanda 5-12 2-3 14;
Corado-Williams, Mel 6-14 0-2 13; Guyton, Ariana 4-16 0-0 8; Bond, Marcia
2-17 2-2 6; Cook, Brandi 0-3 0-0 0; Suggs, Keisha 0-1 0-0 0; Nunley, Jessica
0-1 0-0 0; Fiorenza, Jamie 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-88 6-10 63.
HARFORD (1-6, 0-2 MDJUCO)
Spalt, Sarah 5-15 6-6 16; Mears, Brittany 4-16 0-0 10; Reeves, Kiara 4-13
2-7 10; Fox, Marie 3-7 0-0 6; Jones, Kelsey 1-2 0-0 2; Parsons, Jasmine 0-4
1-2 1; Scroggins, Hillary 0-0 0-0 0; Bond, Natasha 0-2 0-0 0; Miller, Sarah
0-6 0-0 0; Werren, Jasmine 0-2 0-0 0; Lehnert, Kathleen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
17-67 9-15 45.
Howard 31 32 63
Harford 19 26 45
3-point goals–Howard 3-21 (Schwartz, Amanda 2-4; Corado-Williams, Mel 1-6;
Bond, Marcia 0-5; Suggs, Keisha 0-1; Fiorenza, Jamie 0-1; Guyton, Ariana
0-4), Harford 2-8 (Mears, Brittany 2-5; Bond, Natasha 0-1; Miller, Sarah
0-1; Spalt, Sarah 0-1). Fouled out–Howard-None, Harford-None.
Rebounds–Howard 62 (Montgomery, Alyssa 25), Harford 56 (Reeves, Kiara 14).
Assists–Howard 17 (Bond, Marcia 9), Harford 11 (Spalt, Sarah 4). Total
fouls–Howard 13, Harford 15. Technical fouls–Howard-None, Harford-None.