Girls Basketball Team

I'M NOT MUCH of a sports fan. But when a local high school girls basketball team wins the state championship, that's something to celebrate. And when a local girl becomes Player of the Year, it's worth a story. However, the real story is not about a player, but about a team. Jill Marano, a junior at Arundel High School, has been named Anne Arundel County Player of the Year by The Sun and the Annapolis Capital. She was also chosen for the all-metro girls basketball team and has been featured in newspaper and television stories.

The Anne Arundel County girls basketball coaches have selected their All-County teams for 2012-2013: First Team Ke'la Ballard, Arundel Bre Bolden, South River Jordyn Brown, Southern Hannah Carroll, Severna Park Tiffany McKinney, South River Second Team Samantha Krumbhaar, North County Natesha Riley, Old Mill Rachel Vander Kolk, Severn Park Kameron Ward, Broadneck Brianna Zajac, Chesapeake ...

The foundation for this year's girls basketball team at John Carroll was formed last summer when most of the players were part of a team that placed second in summer league action.Their school team, mostly juniors and sophomores, had gone 4-16, but the basics were there and, with the addition of several newcomers during the summer, the group developed a positive attitude."It really helped," said junior Meaghan Giorno, starting point guard, of the summer experience. "Our skills improved and our outlook was better.

Aberdeen's No. 1 girls basketball team knows how to keep rolling no matter what happens to its lineup. Playing without four of the top eight players including two starters, the host Eagles easily handled No. 14 Patterson Mill, 75-51, in a key Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference game Thursday night. When the two met on Jan. 10, the Eagles barely pulled out a 60-57 win, but that was right after the first big change to their lineup - their first game after 6-foot-3 senior center Brionna Jones, last season's All-Metro Player of the Year, suffered the torn anterior cruciate ligament that has sidelined her for the season.

Paul Eckert, who decided to change careers and become a high school teacher three years ago, will try another new job this fall when he takes over Atholton's girls basketball team.Eckert, a 29-year-old social studies teacher at Atholton -- his alma mater -- replaces Graydon Webster. Webster coached the Raiders for nine seasons before resigning two months ago."I don't know if I'm going to replace him [Webster]. I'll try to succeed him," said Eckert, who coaches Atholton's junior varsity baseball team and assisted varsity boys basketball coach Jim Albert for the past two years.

The roster includes a sick player, one injured and mostly others unaccustomed to the pressure of a national tournament.The team has not practiced together in three months.But, ready or not, the Maryland Magic -- a girls basketball team dominated by players from Mount Hebron and Hammond high schools -- headed to Charleston, W.Va., this weekend to compete in the 15-and-under division of the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympics national tournament."I don't think we've faced competition like this before.

In her second season as coach of the Randallstown girls basketball team, Sharon Davis beefed up her early season schedule by adding No. 9 Woodlawn and No. 14 Chesapeake, of Anne Arundel County, both of which were state semifinalists in Class 4A last season. The Rams lost to both teams as well as to No. 12 Seton Keough and Mount de Sales at Catonsville's Comet Classic Christmas tournament, but playing tough teams seems to have paid off. Last week, Randallstown upset defending Baltimore County champion Parkville, 40-37, in overtime, and the Rams remain unbeaten in the county's hotly contested Division I. "The losses we had in the beginning of the season showed us our weaknesses," said Davis, whose team is 4-4 overall.

12 Three-pointers hit by the No. 1 St. Frances girls basketball team in its 69-30 win over Blair Academy (N.J.) Saturday 73 Combined points scored by Carver A&T's Corey Brown (40) and Chesapeake-BC's Damien Cobb (38) in Chesapeake's 70-63 win Friday night 1,220 Miles that Seton Keough's No. 5 girls basketball team will travel to its holiday tournament next week in Duncanville, Texas

12 Consecutive losses for the Key School girls basketball team before last week's 27-23 victory at Oldfields. Elliott Royal scored 17 points in the win. 32 Free throws attempted by the Glen Burnie girls basketball team - 19 of which were made - in a 51-35 loss at South River last week. 290 Career wins for St. Mary's girls basketball coach Harry Dobson after his Saints defeated Mount de Sales, 35-27, and Severn, 47-44, last week. Dobson, in his 15th season, is 290-142 (.671).

The Westminster girls basketball team faces its toughest opponent so far when it plays host to Frederick tonight. The No. 17-ranked Owls (9-0 overall, 2-0 league) are off to an amazing start for coach Dick Ebersole, but could raise their standing significantly with a victory tonight. Frederick carries a big reputation into this game for having beaten Dunbar, which had scored 100 points in four straight games, and for taking Riverdale Baptist, ranked No. 2 in the Washington area, into overtime before losing.

Mary T. McMullen, a Millersville special education teacher and athletics booster, died Friday at University of Maryland Medical Center of scleroderma after a lengthy illness. She was 64. Mary Wissel was born March 14, 1948, in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville. She attended Seton High School in Baltimore, where she played on the girls basketball team - including a few games at the Baltimore Civic Center, where she was thrilled to play on the same court as her favorite professional team, the Baltimore Bullets.

Daisy Alaeze Roland Park, senior, guard •Versatile 5-foot-10 veteran was the top player in the IAAM A Conference •Developed outside game to complement penetrating skill •Averaged 18.7 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two blocks; scored 1,457 career points and had 22 points and nine rebounds in win over Dunbar Repeat first-team All-Metro; four-time A Conference All-Star; signed with Virginia...

Girls basketball coaches in the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference, which includes Harford County and Cecil County, announced their all-division teams on Wednesday. Both players of the year led their teams to the state tournament. Aberdeen's 6-3 All-Metro center Bri Jones averaged 23 points, 11 rebounds and 4.1 blocks in leading the No. 1 Eagles to their first state championship. Patterson Mill's 5-10 forward Morgan Golec averaged 18.6 points in leading the Huskies to the state semifinals for the first time in school history.

Neither team is flashy. They won't break any scoring records. But a focus on tight defense and a disciplined approach to the game has carried the Century boys and girls basketball programs to a solid record of success during the last 10 years, and the current season looks like it might be the best ever on Ronsdale Road. Following a 45-36 win over the Winters Mill Falcons on Jan. 24, the Century girls have a comfortable two-game lead in the Carroll County standings. The Knights' 14-1 start is easily the best in program history, and Century has never won eight of its first nine county games before this year.

Sports schedule 'not fair'From: Kathryn SeckEllicott CityI am writing in response to the June 7 article in the Howard County Sun ["Winter sports schedule changes get chilly response from some coaches," by Gary Lambrecht] concerning schedule changes for winter sports.OC As a student at Mount Hebron High School, I dislike the idea ofchanging these schedules. This past school year I recorded statistics for our girls basketball team. After watching the girls game, I was always able to stay and enjoy the boys basketball game afterward.

Mona Jackson, a 1995 Howard graduate and a 2000 inductee into its athletic Hall of Fame, has been hired to coach Hammond's girls basketball team. "I'm very excited and eager to get started," said the 24-year-old Jackson, who will become the first woman to coach the team since the school opened in 1977. Jackson excelled in basketball and track at Howard, and played both sports while at Norfolk State University. She graduated with a degree in physical education and taught last year at Long Reach before moving this school year to Hammond.