If it was possible for Arundel forward Simone Egwu to feel more disappointed following her team’s 52-50 loss to Eleanor Roosevelt in the Class 4A championship game at UMBC‘s RAC Arena, she couldn’t imagine it.
“This is the worst feeling in the world,” the junior said as tears rolled down her cheeks. “This is what we have been working for all year and we didn’t come here for second place. Every single one of the girls on my team, I love them all to death and I had faith in all of them.”
Arundel, which lost in the region final last year, advanced to the state championship game for the first time since winning its most recent title in 2004. The fourth-ranked Wildcats (22-6) led the three-time defending champion Raiders, 50-46, with just more than a minuteremaining.
But Arundel couldn’t maintain the lead against the Raiders (24-2), and saw its dreams of bringing a fourth title back to Gambrills end when junior guard Ebonne’ Jones’ 50-foot heave rimmed out as time expired.
“This team was here today, and it’s not a year away,” Arundel coach Lee Rogers said. “People say ‘wait till next year,’ but we are a program that’s here and it’s not done like that. We are tired of being motivated for next year.”
A win for Arundel would have kept the Raiders out of the state public school record books, but for the fourth straight season, no team could beat the Prince George?s County school when it mattered. Eleanor Roosevelt joins Brooklyn Park (1985-1989) and Dunbar (2000-2003) as the only girls programs to win four straight titles.
The Wildcats, however, didn’t go down easily. Arundel was up by as many as seven points in the first quarter, and was led by junior guard Ashley Davis‘ team-high 17 points, sophomore forward Sherrone Vails’ 13 points and five rebounds and Egwu?s seven points and six rebounds. Arundel trailed by six in the third quarter, but a four-point play by Davis sparked a rally. “We were down and we needed it,” Davis said. “It had to be there at the right time. I had to get open a lot and it was kind of difficult.”
But next year might be easier.
Davis, Vails and Egwu, along with Jones and sophomore guard Talen Watson ? all five of the Wildcats’ starters ? return next season. And finding motivation to return to RAC Arena won’t be hard.
“We weren’t here for next year, we were here for this year,” Egwu said, “and we are going to be back.”
