Gophers

If ever a team gave its all and came up a tad short, Glen Burnie sure did over the last 10 days. Its season and a coaching career ended last night but not before the Gophers and Terry Bogle earned the admiration of many.Boo Diggs scored 13 of his team-high 27 points in the final period to go with nine second-half rebounds (game-high total of 11) and three blocks as Annapolis eliminated Glen Burnie, 78-71, in the first round of the Class 4A East Region playoffs.It was the Gophers' fourth loss in their last five games with everyone of them going to the wire and two settled in overtime, including Wednesday's 87-84 county championship loss to Broadneck.

When the basketball playoffs began, the Glen Burnie boys and the Old Mill girls were not expected to win their respective Class 4A East regionals, but they did so rather impressively. Top-seeded Thomas Stone of Charles County and Broadneck, the 1-2 seeds, were the favorites on the boys side and Arundel was the favorite in the girls 4A East. Instead, then-No. 12 Glen Burnie knocked off No. 5 Broadneck, 62-49, in the semifinals and Thomas Stone, 92-85, in the final to advance to the state semifinals in College Park.

When Julie Allen went high into the air to block Amy Hutson's blistering hit in the second game last night, it was obvious that sixth-ranked Glen Burnie was in over its head against No. 1 Severna Park.Hutson had launched Glen Burnie's best shot and it was rejected impressively by Allen.Glen Burnie's best and Severna Park's best had met far above the net, and the ball went bouncing to the floor for a Severna Park point and a 5-1 lead in the second game.There would be no upset for the defending Anne Arundel County champion Glen Burnie team over Severna Park.

It's often been said that "trouble comes in threes," and it sure did for host Glen Burnie last night.Maurice Bowie's three-pointer made it possible for Derek Booth to do the near impossible as No. 17 North County stunned No. 14 Glen Burnie, 74-67, in double overtime to leave the two teams tied for first in the Anne Arundel County North Division with two games to go.Booth delivered the knockout punch with three consecutive three-pointers in the second overtime...

Before they were left on the outside looking in at the NCAA Division III tournament last year, the Goucher Gophers' men's basketball team played Catholic University three times and lost three times by a total of 12 points.So when this year's 18th-ranked Goucher team kept chipping away at double-digit deficits during a 76-72 loss in last night's Capital Athletic Conference matchup against its 25th-ranked nemesis, there was the feeling that this game might end up every bit as close.Down 64-50 with nearly 10 minutes remaining, the host Gophers (10-3 overall, 2-1 CAC)

Rob Zmarzly braced himself for the inevitable jokes from friends who playfully ridiculed his decision to attend "a girls college."The idea of participating in the basketball program only exposed the Archbishop Spalding graduate to further kidding."

Minnesota took the biggest fall of the week, from 8th to 22nd. Records through Sunday (last week's ranking) 1. Duke 13-0 (1): The Blue Devils began ACC play with a win over Miami. 2. Ohio State 14-0 (2): The Buckeyes have more than an inside game. They shot 68 percent from 3-point range to beat Indiana. 3. Kansas 13-0 (3): It hasn't cooled down in Lawrence. The Jayhawks lead the nation, shooting 54.2 percent. 4. Syracuse 15-0 (5): Scoop can find the hoop.

In the pre-game talk for Saturday night's Class 4A state championship volleyball clash between Oxon Hill and Glen Burnie, each team hints that it has a little something extra in store for the other.Clippers coach Christine Johnson warns that she knows a little more about the second-seeded Gophers' than the Gophers' semifinal opponent, Seneca Valley, did.Gophers coach Juanita Murdock-Milani, on the other hand, says her team will be at its best for this one -- unlike its last two victories over Seneca Valley and in the Class 4A Region IV title game against Broadneck.

The Glen Burnie Gophers have been winning the close games throughout their magical playoff run. Yesterday afternoon's game was no different, except the reward was much sweeter.Early runs, senior Jen Zabetakis' formidable pitching, and more steady defense had coach Bob Broccolino shaving off the mustache he has had since 1971.The Gophers, ranked No. 1 in the metro area for most of the second half of the season, are now also No. 1 in the state after claiming a 3-1 win over Greenbelt's Eleanor Roosevelt to capture their third Class 4A state championship in three tries, the last in 1989.

Visiting Glen Burnie employed solid pitching from Michelle Whelan and, after Chesapeake tried to rally, had a nice offensive response to come away with a 6-2 win yesterday.After the No. 6-ranked Cougars (9-5) finally got a couple runs across off Whelan in the bottom of the fifth, cutting Glen Burnie's lead to 3-2, the third-ranked Gophers (10-4) put the game out of reach with a three-run sixth.The win closed out a flawless week for the Gophers, who scored shutouts over South River (10-0), Arundel (10-0)