A steal, a layup, and a foul in one play put Atholton?s girls basketball team on top for good in the Class 2A state title game Saturday. The Raiders downed Southern of Anne Arundel, 69-62, at UMBC?s RAC Arena for the schools first girls? basketball state championship.
The win gives Atholton (25-3) the clean sweep of titles for 2007, with the Howard County, the 2A South region and the 2A state championships.
Junior forward Taylor Chapman led the Raiders? scoring with 21 points and added 15 rebounds. Juniors Brittany Coughlan had 19, Elie Snyder had 12 and senior Julie Taylor scored 11 while pulling down a game-high 16 rebounds.
Southern (18-6) was led by junior forward Kim Schneck with 21 points in the game.
It was Atholton junior Elie Snyder who stole the ball at mid court, scored a fast break lay-up, was fouled, and converted the 3-point play to give the Raiders a 54-53 lead with just under five minutes to play.
“After that steal, we knew it was over because we had all the momentum,” Snyder said.
Her play was part of a 21-1 fourth quarter run that pulled Atholton out of a nine-point hole in the beginning of the fourth quarter.
“We refused to lose,” said Atholton?s lone senior Julie Taylor.
After last year?s semifinal loss, the state title win feels that much better for Taylor and it fulfilled all of the team?s goals for this season. With 7:35 left in the game, the Raiders called a timeout trailing 53-44.
“We had worked all year for this,” said Atholton head coach Maureen Shacraew. “But we were out of sync and we could not get into a rhythm.”
After a back and forth start, the Raiders built a 10-point lead in the second quarter, only to see it disappear to a slim 2-point margin before halftime. In the third quarter, Southern pieced together a 14-2 run to move in front.
The win is the 11th in a row for Atholton dating back to a Jan. 26 loss to River Hill. For the Bulldogs, the loss snapped a seven game winning streak that began after a loss to 4A State Semifinalist Old Mill.
