Despite falling behind 5-0 early, Cecil tied the score at ten all on a three-pointer by Chada Ferbish at the 11:35 mark. Over the last nine and a half minutes of the half, the Lady Seahawks had things pretty much their own way as they went on a 19-5 run and built a substantial 31-17 lead at intermission. Almost half of the Cecil scoring came on five three-pointers, three of them by Shantia White. Cecil handled the Hagerstown zone defense well, often passing the ball over the defenders to gain open shots on the opposite side of the court and finding some open space to score inside. Defensively, Cecil played aggressively, but also benefited from some poor shooting by the Lady Hawks, who missed a number of open shots.

Then came the second half. Hagerstown scored the first seven points in just one minute and fifteen seconds, and by the 15:35 mark, a Kishia Jackson trey reduced the lead to just four, 35-31. A Yolanda Pinkcett basket eight minutes and forty seconds into the half gave Hagerstown its first lead, 40-39, since the opening minutes of the game. During this stretch, Hagerstown employed a man-for-man defense that forced numerous Cecil turnovers, one of the keys to the game, and accounted for the 23-8 run. But Cecil fought back with a 7-0 run, fueled mostly by Iesha Butler's five points, and took a six-point lead with just under nine minutes remaining. Again, Hagerstown replied, and with just over four minutes left, Jasmine Reynolds sank two free throws to give her team a 49-48 lead. Seconds later, Brianna Thomas' basket regained the lead for Cecil, but almost immediately Pinkcett responded with another basket, creating another lead change. Although a free-throw by Cecil's Shanice Smith tied the game with just under three minutes remaining, Hagerstown outscored the Lady Seahawks 9-3 the rest of the way to gain the victory and advance in the tournament.

Hagerstown scoring was led by Pinkcett (15), Alessandra Flores (14), Jackson (13) and Katie Sprecher (12). Brianna Thomas and Shantia White (15 each), and Iesha Butler (12) led the Lady Seahawks.
Cecil coach Andrew Coston was perplexed as to the cause of the second-half downfall. "We just lost a lot of the edge we had in the first half," he said. "We didn't have the same aggressiveness." Coston noted that in the first half, "When they scored, we made them make a play, but in the second half, they took advantage of our mistakes," like a failure to block out on the defensive boards or miscommunication.

Coston acknowledged that it is always the goal to win and advance in post-season play and that seeing that fourteen-point lead evaporate was especially painful. However, looking at the entire season, he noted that "this was probably the strongest schedule we ever had. We played a lot of strong teams." "We're happy with our team's efforts, with the way our team has conducted itself."

Neither team could manage more than a three-point lead through most of the first half. Then, in the final three minutes, Cecil's Iesha Butler hit a three-pointer, followed by two Frederick turnovers resulting in fast-break baskets, one by Chada Ferbish and another by Shantia White. Butler added another basket just before the buzzer to complete a 9-0 Lady Seahawk run that gave them a 38-31 half-time lead. The Lady Cougars battled back and at the 12:30 mark tied the score at 46 all on a Kia Duncan three-pointer. The lead again bounced back and forth, and with 6:39 left in the game, a Duncan basket gave Frederick a 60-57 lead. At this point, Cecil dialed up the intensity on defense and rebounding, and went on an 18-6 run to close out the game and secure the win.

Cecil coach Andrew Coston noted that Frederick "was athletic at all positions and bigger than us and could run well." "Our plan was to take away the easy [fast-break] baskets, take away the three-point shooters, fight like crazy on the boards, and not turn the ball over. If we could do that, we thought we had a good chance to win." Although Cecil did turn the ball over and give up some easy baskets, they also scored some off of Frederick turnovers. And they held the Lady Cougars to five three-pointers, while hitting ten of their own, four by Butler and two each by White and Erica McQuaide.

Butler, who led all scorers with 23 points, and White, who added 19, paced the Lady Seahawks. Brianna Thomas added 14. Duncan scored 20 points, Jourdan Stanhope 14, and Destinee Jernigan 13 in a losing effort for Frederick. On Saturday at 2:00, Cecil takes on second-seeded Hagerstown CC, which defeated Garrett CC 57-38 prior to the Cecil-Frederick game.

Friday, March 9:
Game 1 - #4 Allegany College vs. #5 Dundalk CC at 3 p.m.
Game 2 - #2 Hagerstown CC vs. #7 Garrett CC at 5 p.m.
Game 3 - #3 Frederick CC vs. #6 Cecil at 7 p.m.
Bye - #1 Chesapeake College

Saturday, March 10: Semi-Finals
Game 5 - Hagerstown CC vs. Cecil College at 2 p.m.
Game 6 - Allegany College vs. Chesapeake College at 4 p.m.

Sunday, March 11:
Region XX Women's All Star Game at 11 a.m.
Game 7 Championship Game - Hagerstown CC vs. Chesapeake College at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices are as follows and can be purchased at the door:
Adults: $5.00
Senior citizens: $3.00
Children under 10: Free
Cecil Students with ID & Staff: Free

For more information, please contact the Athletic Department at 410-287-1010.

The first half appropriately began with Cecil scoring it first nine points from three-point range and ended with it scoring its last twelve points on threes; they would finish the evening with eleven three-pointers, five of them by Thomas. The game was a see-saw affair throughout much of the opening half with the score knotted five times, but a Shantia White three at the 6:00 mark gave Cecil a 25-22 lead, and they would not trail again. An Erica McQuaide three at 4:38 gave the Lady Seahawks a 31-22 lead, the biggest of the half. Harford closed the gap, but a Thomas three at the buzzer game Cecil a five-point edge at intermission. The second half saw the Lady Seahawks steadily add to the lead, and with 8:23 left in the game, a Chada Ferbish basket provided the biggest lead of the game, bringing the score to 61-42. Cecil cruised from there.

The first half saw Cecil relying on its long-range shooting while Harford often got inside the Lady Seahawk defense and scored in close. "We talked about this [at half-time]," said Cecil coach Andrew Coston. Noting that his team had started taking "a few too many" three-pointers, he said, "The things we wanted to do inside, they didn't take away. We just felt like we were impatient." " We just had to pay more attention [to available openings in the Harford defense]." In the second half, Cecil's inside and outside game complemented each other. This, coupled with Thomas' stand-out performance, allowed the Lady Seahawks to take control.

Cecil's Thomas led all scorers with 35 points, and Erica McQuaide added 9. Alannah Galloway paced the Lady Owls with 20 points, while Shelby Key added 14 and Rachel Cocoros 12. The Cecil women travel to Frederick CC on Thursday, February 16th, to face second-seeded Chesapeake College in the next round of the MD JUCO tournament.

Just under four minutes into the game, Shanice Smith's basket gave the Lady Seahawks a 4-3 lead, but seconds later, Turquoia Johnson gave Rockville a lead that would slowly, but steadily grow. Three-point shooting, three by Brianna Thomas and two by Erica McQuaide, helped keep Cecil within range in the first half, and they trailed by only eight, 35-27, at intermission. They continued to stay close as late as the 10:50 mark of the second half, when a basket by Thomas made it 45-38. But over the next four minutes and twenty seconds, Rockville shut down Cecil, outscoring them 11-0 and taking a commanding 56-38 lead. In fact, the visitor's defense held the Lady Seahawks to only eleven points in the final ten minutes and fifty seconds of the game.

"When we rebound well, we play well, we're a pretty good team," said Cecil coach Andrew Coston, who saw his team's lack of rebounding as one of the keys to the game. "With a team like that, you have to put a body on them first, then rebound." He added, "They [Rockville] are strong and pretty athletic as a group. We allowed them to move too freely. We weren't physical enough."

Rockville was paced by the leading scorer in the conference, Alexandra Silva (21 points) and Faye Dunston and Turquoia Johnson (11 points each). Most of the Cecil scoring belonged to Thomas, the third leading scorer in conference, whose 22 points included four three-pointers; Erica McQuaide added 10 points.

Cecil is now 8-5 in conference, 11-11 overall. Rockville improves to 12-0, 21-4. The Lady Seahawks now prepare for the upcoming MD JUCO tournament next week, their first opponent to be determined.

Cecil coach Andrew Coston noted that Baltimore much prefers to use its quickness to attack the basket but is not comfortable trying to score from the outside. "We were defending from sixteen to seventeen feet in. We thought if we could make them [shoot from outside that range] we would be OK." So Coston had his players in effect concede the outside shots and concentrate on preventing the Lady Jaguars from penetrating to the basket. It was a strategy which worked earlier in the season against Prince George's CC, and it worked again, as the visitors shot with only 27 percent accuracy and had only one three-point basket for the game. The Lady Seahawks shot 40 percent, including five threes.

Less than twenty seconds after Brady gave Baltimore that initial lead, Cecil's Brianna Thomas responded with a three-pointer, and Cecil went on an 18-3 run, taking a 21-6 advantage at the 9:39 mark. Using a balanced scoring attack, Cecil continued to dominate the first half and held a half-time lead of 37-23. They maintained control throughout most of the second half, building leads that at one point reached 19 points. However, the visitors began applying full-court pressure and forcing turnovers; with just over three minutes left in the game, they reduced the lead to 9 points. But they failed to score the rest of the way, while Cecil's Shanice Smith hit a free-throw and Thomas hit five more to close out Cecil's scoring and preserve the win.

The Lady Seahawks were led offensively by Thomas, whose 16 points led all scorers, Shantia White with 11, and Erica McQuaide and Smith, each with 10. Leading scorers for Baltimore were Shamera O'Neal (14) and Sarah Hunt-FoFana and Nikita Brady, each with (10).

Winners of three of their last four, the Cecil women are now 8-4 in conference and 11-10 overall. Baltimore falls to 4-8, 7-18. Cecil next plays Montgomery County (Rockville), the top-ranked team in Maryland JUCO, on Tuesday, February 7, at 5 p.m.