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..to see video..
By Andy States
Digital Sports Content Manager
Finally, it was time to let it out.
As the championships mounted up for the Eleanor Roosevelt Raiders in
recent weeks, the team was all business, almost apathetic, in its
on-court demeanor. But as the final seconds ticked off the clock in
Roosevelt's 67-39 win over the Blake Bengals in Saturday's 4A
championship game, the girls from Roosevelt finally were able to
celebrate.
With the win the Raiders achieved their ultimate goal of a state
championship and a bit of history, as the state title was the fifth
straight for the girls basketball program.
"It's finally over. It feels like we've been together for 30 years now,"
said Roosevelt senior Alexis Malloy with a laugh. "I loved them a whole
lot. I think we need to throw a big celebration."
That celebration would be well-deserved for the seniors from Roosevelt
(25-1), as the class completed its career knowing nothing but state
championship finishes. But Saturday's win over Blake held a little
different meaning than the previous titles.
"It was different because we helped all the other classes get it done,"
said Olivia Applewhite, who led all scorers with 22 points and hauled in
11 rebounds. "It just feels good to have one for ourselves."
The Raiders left very little to chance. Lacie Hall and Applewhite
combined to score the game's first six points and the Raiders never
looked back. Roosevelt led 15-9 after a quarter. Faye Dunston scored the
first bucket of the second period to pull Blake (22-6) to within four,
but the Bengals would never come any closer than that.
The Raiders led 31-18 by the half and kept the foot on the gas in the
second half, outscoring Blake 21-9 in the third quarter. Terah Mustaf
scored 10 points to join Applewhite in double digits, while Hall added
nine points and nine rebounds.
"I think that may have been the best I've ever seen Applewhite play,"
Blake coach Patti Gilmore said. "She showed up to play today."
Gilmore said that when she saw Roosevelt's narrow semifinal win over
Arundel on Thursday she knew what was in store. Two years ago she saw a
similarly sluggish semfinal performance out of the Raiders before her
team met them in the final, and Roosevelt responded with a 'dynamite'
final.
To make matters worse, the Bengals suffered key injuries throughout the
course of the game. Christine Weithman broke a hand in the first
quarter, while Justine Allen suffered a broken nose later.
"We're undersized to begin with," Gilmore said, "and we knew going in it
was going to be an uphill battle."
Danielle Douglas led the Bengals with 12 points, while Gabi Hall scored
10 and pulled in a team-high 11 boards.
For Roosevelt, the effort started with its usual high-intensity,
physical defense. Coach Rod Hairston likened the team's defense to that
of the 2004-05 Raiders -- the team that won the first in the string of
state titles.
"We're a very aggressive team," Hall said. "We came out with a lot of
intensity and energy and I think that just motivates us and pushes us
even further."
Four years ago Hairston knew he had players with potential, but the idea
of this year's senior class going 4 for 4 at the state tournament never
crossed his mind.
"I never envisioned going 4 for 4," he said. "That was never what we
really saw as an opportunity. What I did see was a class of hard-working
young ladies that wanted to be players. With each year it became like,
'Wow, we can win it again.'"
And, after the first championship was won before the current seniors
were even in high school, this year's graduating class never had the
luxury of sneaking up on anyone. Though continued success allows for
some good-spirited debate amongst the coaching staff as to which year's
team was the best, Hairston said he thought that this year's group was
the deepest and most talented.
"They've had the target on their back ever since they got to Roosevelt,"
Hairston said.
Eight seniors will graduate from this year's team, leaving the drive for
No. 6 in the hands of a completely changed group.
"I just want for us to keep playing as hard as they played," said Mustaf,
a junior, referring to the team's seniors. "This year they showed me a
lot. Everybody had heart. I think we all need to come back with the same
intensity and heart that they had."
Eleanor
Roosevelt 67, Blake 39
R 15 16 21 15
B 9 9 9 12
Roosevelt: Applewhite
9 4-4 22, Mustaf 3 3-6 10, Hall 4 1-2 9, Malloy 3 1-1 7, Hall 2 2-4 6,
Gibbs 3 0-0 6, Bullock 1 2-4 4, Nolan 1 1-4 3
Blake: Douglas 2 7-8
12, Hall 5 0-0 10, Allen 2 0-0 6, Dunston 2 0-0 4, Buonomo 2 0-0 4,
Davis 0 2-2 2, Weithman 0 1-2 1
Three-pointers: Roosevelt
1 (Mustaf); Blake 3 (Allen 2, Douglas)
Related Stories
Washington
Post
Gazette
Digital Sports
Applewhite was too strong on the boards against Blake
Blake's coach Patti Gilmore talks about the physical play of Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt Players in a Post-State Championship Game Interview
Eleanor Roosevelt Wins Its Fifth Straight Title
By Jeff Nelson
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, March 15, 2009; D11
CATONSVILLE, Md., March 14 -- In her hand, Olivia Applewhite clutched an orange sports drink. In her arms, she held Lacie Hall. Together, the Eleanor Roosevelt seniors spun around in circles, over and over again, a spontaneous act that released a season's worth of pressure and celebrated a historic achievement.
By rolling to a 67-39 victory over No. 18 Blake yesterday at UMBC's RAC Arena, second-ranked Eleanor Roosevelt won its fifth straight Maryland 4A championship. Only Brooklyn Park has accomplished that feat, when it won the 1A championship from 1985 to 1989.
For the Raiders' seniors, the pursuit of that record created "a lot of pressure," Applewhite said, "because you don't want to be the class that loses. You have four straight championships for the school, and then you're a senior, and then you lose? That [would have been] lame."
With that mind-set, Eleanor Roosevelt rarely celebrated its wins this season, even in the playoffs. Only by claiming a piece of history could the Raiders achieve peace of mind.
"It was a relief to get it all done," Hall said, "and it felt great to get it done."
The Raiders (25-1) did it in their typical fashion, harassing an opponent with constant traps and outstretched arms, which obstructed passing lanes and created turnovers.
Their physical style left Blake (22-6) looking very much like Eleanor Roosevelt's jerseys -- black and blue. Early in the first quarter, Bengals senior Christine Weithman had her hand stepped on (the trainer said it was broken, but she kept playing), and in the third quarter, sophomore Justine Allen took an elbow to the nose while trying to trap one of the Raiders. (Her nose, too, was diagnosed as broken.)
As Eleanor Roosevelt flustered Blake's typically fast-paced attack, the Raiders scored with the balance befitting a team that has seven players either signed or committed to play in college. In the first half, seven different Raiders scored, though no individual had more than eight points as they took a 31-18 lead.
The Raiders built a 52-27 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Bengals couldn't rally.
With his team leading by 30, and only 1 minute 14 seconds to play, Eleanor Roosevelt Coach Rod Hairston called a timeout to take out the rest of his starters, and deliver a message to everyone.
"Okay, we can take a deep breath now," he told the Raiders. "Y'all can actually smile. And understand, you guys just made history."
No. 2 E. Roosevelt 67 No. 18 Blake 39 Ready for No. 6? Raiders junior Terah Mustaf could be a leading playmaker next season, as evidenced by her 10 points and five rebounds in the title game.Experience Lost: Blake loses only two seniors who played significant minutes, but they were the Bengals' leading scorers: Guard Danielle Douglas and Faye Dunston.
No Conference, No Problem for Riverdale Baptist
By Preston Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 17, 2009; E10
Riverdale Baptist, which finished atop the area girls' basketball rankings, has no league affiliation. That can prove inconvenient when trying to put together a schedule but also liberating because it enables the Crusaders to play several teams that they likely would not get to play otherwise.
This season, Riverdale played, and beat, No. 7 Arundel, No. 8 Good Counsel, No. 12 Forest Park (twice), No. 15 Holy Cross and four other teams that were ranked at some point -- Blake, St. John's, Bishop McNamara and Virginia AAA quarterfinalist Stonewall Jackson.
Riverdale's two losses, and two of its most impressive wins, were at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona, and it also won the National Association of Christian Athletes Division I title in Dayton, Tenn. The Crusaders are one of the four teams invited to play in the National High School Invitational set for April 3-5 at Georgetown Prep.
"We wanted to play some really good competition, and we have some of the nation's best right here," Riverdale Coach Gina Miller said. "When you get recognition locally, then that means a lot more."
One local matchup that never materialized was Riverdale vs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the No. 2 team in the final rankings. The Raiders won a fifth consecutive Maryland 4A championship.
Eleanor Roosevelt Coach Rod Hairston said that there was some discussion with Riverdale -- the schools are about 12 miles apart -- but that there was no playing date that would work for both programs.
When Roosevelt did not get to play its full complement of holiday tournament games, Hairston said he wanted to schedule a game for later in the season.
"They wanted to play early and I didn't have [an open date], and I wanted to play later and they didn't have [an open date]," Hairston said. "I know the kids wanted to play each other, on both sides."
"It just didn't work out to play against each other, even though we would like to have," said Miller, whose team will lose Maryland-bound forward Tianna Hawkins but return its next four leading scorers.
So all the top two finishers have to go on is a series of mostly meaningless fall league games: Riverdale beats Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt beats Paint Branch. Paint Branch beats Riverdale.
"I don't know if they have an unsettled feeling, but for me, I just think it wasn't in the cards," said Hairston, whose top six scorers were seniors. "It's talk for the streets, I guess. Talk for history."
No. 3 H.D. Woodson, the City Title Game champion over Good Counsel, might want a piece of that action. Like Riverdale and Eleanor Roosevelt, the Warriors also were unbeaten against Washington area teams, as was No. 4 Paint Branch, which fell in the Maryland 3A state final to Fallston. As was No. 5 Oakton, which was undefeated until losing in the Virginia AAA championship to Princess Anne. So was No. 6 River Hill, a Maryland 2A finalist.
McNamara Coach OutMcNamara, one of the area's perennial powers, has decided not to retain Coach Rob Surratt, Athletic Director Tony Johnson said yesterday. Surratt guided the Forestville school to a 16-13 mark this season and was 114-43 in five seasons with the Mustangs.
"We're just looking to go in a different direction and to make sure the program continues to grow," Johnson said.
Staff writer Josh Barr contributed to this report.
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