Harford Men’s Basketball Dominates St. Mary’s (JV), Women Edged by Hagerstown

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford basketball teams split a reverse doubleheader against the jayvee squad from St. Mary’s College and Hagerstown on Friday, which saw the Fighting Owls men (8-2) down the Seahawks (1-3), 109-68, in the early game before the Fighting Owls women (3-4, 0-3 MDJUCO) suffered a heartbreaking, 48-47 loss to the Hawks (7-4, 3-2 MDJUCO).

Freshman DaMonte Vales (Akron, Ohio/Firestone) tallied his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 boards, while sophomore John Schwarz (Perry Hall, Md./Perry Hall/Mount St. Mary’s) tallied a team-high 16 points and also grabbed five rebounds.

Trey Quinn led St. Mary’s with 18 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals, while Stephen Matthews scored a game-high 20 points for the Seahawks.

On the women’s side, Kristina Douglas led Harford with eight points and 14 rebounds, while Miranda Payne totaled 19 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Hawks.

St. Mary’s stayed in the game for the first few minutes, even holding a short-lived, 5-2 lead by the 17:20 mark, but a layup by freshman Kevin Harrison (Baltimore, Md./Dulaney) and fast-break dunk by Schwarz would give the Owls the 6-5 lead at 16:37. The Seahawks battled back to tie the game at 10, but a 16-5 run by Harford over the next 6:47 gave the Owls their first double-digit lead, 26-15.

Harford would take a 16-point advantage into the half, and would see its lead quickly balloon to 20 points in the second half. The Owls gradually built their advantage to as many as 43 points, 103-60, on the way to the 109-68 win.

The women’s game got off to a slow start, with just 10 total points scored in the first 10 minutes as Hagerstown held a 6-4 lead. Neither team’s fortunes improved much for the remainder of the half, as they combined for 32 turnovers and shot a combined 15-for-64 from the floor.

Harford would take a 20-18 lead into the break and, after trading baskets to start the second, the Owls would hold a 22-21 lead. A 7-0 run by Hagerstown would give the Hawks a 29-22 advantage at the 14:13 mark, however.

Harford wouldn’t get any closer than three points and the Hawks would see their largest lead of the game, 46-36, with 4:13 remaining, before an 11-1 Harford run over the next 3:42 knotted the score at 47 with 31 ticks left on the clock.

The Hawks missed the game-winning layup on their ensuing possession, but maintained possession and drew an Owl foul with two seconds left. Payne drained the front-end of her pair of free throws to give Hagerstown the 48-47 win.