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Brooklyn Park girls win stateBY DAVE FAIRBANKCATONSVILLE—The Brooklyn Park area of northern Anne Arundel County is well known as blue-collar, working class. And this working class assessment, especially in today’s tough times, inherently carries with it an underdog tag; the concept of the little guy clawing and scratching for anything he can get.Or, in the case of the Brooklyn Park girls basketball team, anything 'she' can get. Fighting tooth-and-nail paid off for the Bees as their ‘Impossible Dream’ season culminated in a state championship with a stirring 55-54 win over favored Smithsburg in the Class C finals Saturday at Catonsville Community College.Finishing the season with a stellar 24-2 record, the 1981-82 campaign has been one long ride on Cloud Nine for the Bees. Or has it?“If you had asked me in November if this (a state championship) was possible, I would have had to say ‘No way,' ” Brooklyn Park coach Art St. Martin said afterward, reflecting on the accomplishments of this season.“We only had two proven ballplayers, Patty (Dages) and Pearl (Wynn), and the rest were either people who hadn't started or people from our JV squad. ’ ’“All year long, St. Martin continued, “we haven’t really been able to scrimmage during practice because we haven't had enough people. So, I’ve been forced to stress fundamentals and running.The drills and the work bore fruit but you can’t accuse Brooklyn Park of taking the easy way out. In the finals, the Bees found themselves up against a Smithsburg team that fielded the biggest front line in the entire state tournament (6-3, 6-0, and 5-9), was defending Class C champs, and came in sporting a 2^game win streak, dating back to the regular season last year.St. Martin had planned to experiment with various combination defenses to try and offset Smithsburg’s tremendous height advantage but, down the stretch, Brooklyn Park was able to hang tough playing straight zone and man-to-man defense. The Bees held the Washington County contingent to four of 10 shooting from the floor in the fourth quarter and forced seven Smithsburg turnovers in the final period alone.Brooklyn Park was led, as it has been all year long, by the scoring'and playmaking of its two thoroughbreds, Dages and Wynn. The junior duo combined for 40 points and 15 rebounds, but it was the play of a reserve sophomore guard that drew the majority of St. Martin's praise after this truly marvelous game “I really think the key to the win was the play of Sylvia Tate off the bench, St Martin emphasized. “She came in and played real good defense on (Ruth) McGraw. McGraw had been hurting us by driving in and shooting or passmg off underneath and Sylvia denied her the hail or made her pick up her dribble before she wanted to.”Down 47-46 with a little over four minutes left, Brooklyn Park, behind the defense of Tate and Dages, scored the next five points to open up itsbiggest lead of the game, 51-47, with two minutes remaining.With Tate ballhawking on defense, Dages was able to steal the ball an incredible five times in a row, and the Bees had an opportunity to widen their lead but Dages uncharacteristically missed four consecutive free throws, including two one-and- ones. “I could tell she missed the free throws because she 'was tired, St. Martin said. “I would have liked to call a timeout to give her a breather but I had to save our timeouts for the very end.On the Leopards' ensuing possession, they finally managed to get the ball down into the corner to Carol Wills for an 18-foot jumper. Wills had been killing Brooklyn Park from the outside, shooting seven for nine from the field and coming up with a team-high 17 points.But Dages, already saddled with four fouls, was looking to reject Wills’ shot and came down across her arm, banishing her and her 25 points to the bench with 1:54 still to play,Wills went to the line and sank oneDf two to cut the lead to three but the Bees received a big boost on their next trip downcourt as Tate’s drive up the middle drew 6-3 Smithsburg center Julie Salmon's fifth foul, forcing her to the bench.Tate missed both free throws but, luckily for Brooklyn Park, Salmon was never the factor in the contest that she could have been. She finished with only two points but came up with nine rebounds and four blocked shots.But Smithsburg was by no means finished. On its next possession Betsy Schildt, Salmon’s replacement, trickled a short baseline jumper in to cut the lead to ODe, 51-50, with 1:22 left.Following a missed one-and-one by Yvette Re veil for the Bees and an errant jump shot by Smithsburg, Wynn went to work. The 5-5 junior guard worked herself free for a short baseline jumper to put the Bees back up by three with only 32 seconds left. Ten seconds later, though, she fouled Willis, who went to the line and calmly sank both ends of the one-and-one to make it 53-52 with 22 secondsleft.No matter how much talent a team possesses, it is rare for any team to win a championship without a little good fortune. Brooklyn Park was no exception.With Tate working the ball downcourt against full-court pressure, she gave it up on a pass intended for teammate Robin Johnson. The ball was slightly deflected by a Smithsburg hand and then appeared to bounce off Johnson’s hand out of bounds. With the Smithsburg team jubilant and preparing to turn up-court, the referee ruled that Johnson had not touched it and it was still Brooklyn Park’s ball. The Smithsburg bench and crowd erupted and Johnson walked away with a ‘hand in the cookie jar’ look on her face.Having only to run the clock out, Wynn was fouled with nine seconds left to stop the clock. She sank both free throws for the last of her 15 points, finishing the Leopards, and rendering Wills’ jumper at the buzzer meaningless.
Newspaper Details
Capital Gazette
Annapolis, Maryland, US
Mon, Mar 15, 1982
Page 8
Full Page
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Anonymous
MD, USA 15 May 2024
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