Gwynn Park

BRANDYWINE -- One scene summed up Wilde Lake's experience yesterday in the Class 3A East regional boys basketball championship game at Gwynn Park. With an ice bag on his foot and a grimace on his face, senior Kevin Showe was helped off the floor by his coach, Phil Chenier, as Gwynn Park assembled at midcourt for its victory photo. Showe, Wilde Lake's premier three-point shooter, was held to two points and was injured late in the 78-46 loss. Wilde Lake's 10-year quest to return to the state final four went unfulfilled, its nine-game winning streak was ended, and the senior-laden team was left with nothing but memories -- most of them good ones, though, from this 19-6 season.

BRANDYWINE - For much of the season, Severna Park has prided itself as being one of the fastest girls basketball teams in the Baltimore metro area. The No. 16 Falcons learned the true meaning of speed last night as host Gwynn Park outsprinted them in a convincing 67-43 win in a Class 3A, East region semifinal in southern Prince George's County. Four of the five Yellow Jackets starters posted double-digit totals in points to help Gwynn Park - a program that reached the Class 2A state semifinals in 1999 - advance to the regional final, where it will meet Douglass of Prince George's County, which beat No. 6 Mount Hebron.

In a game of big plays by Gwynn Park, crucial mistakes by Wilde Lake and stifling run defense by both teams, the Yellow Jackets of Prince George's County rallied with a 15-point fourth quarter to spoil Wilde Lakes homecoming yesterday, defeating the No. 8 Wildecats, 28-14. The game was a potential preview of a Class 3A East region matchup. Undefeated Gwynn Park (8-0), ranked No. 9 by The Washington Post, started the day as the No. 2-rated team in the region. Wilde Lake was No. 3. The Wildecats have two more games against Hammond and Mount Hebron.

COLLEGE PARK -- Pete Pompey's return to University of Maryland's Cole Field House didn't quite compare to his first trip. Pompey's No. 15 Edmondson boys basketball team lost to Gwynn Park of Prince George's County last night in the Class 2A state semifinals, 76-58, and the 15-year coach left feeling as though his Redskins had met the best team in the classification. "If the game would have lasted for only one quarter, we'd have been all right. And if there's a better team, I'd like to see them," said Pompey, whose 282-121 record includes a state championship at Cole Field House with Dunbar in 1993.

For Woodlawn coach Bobby Richardson, the challenge in last night's finale of the Woodlawn Warriors Classic Mixer was finding a way to stop Gwynn Park's Sharrod Ford, one of the top big men on the East Coast.After getting beaten time and again by the 6-foot-9 senior, Woodlawn finally found a way to win that battle. Ultimately, however, it was the play of Gwynn Park's guards that helped the Yellow Jackets win.Trailing by six with three minutes left, the Prince George's power rallied with two crucial baskets by Dervin Diggs, including a three-pointer, and a free throw by Charles Ford with one second left, sending the previously-unbeaten No. 13 Warriors to a 60-59 loss.

Down by five points at the half, Southwestern coach Terry Leverett made a simple adjustment at the break. The coach took a seat next to his assistant coach and athletic director, Tina Queen, and let his guys play. His No. 5 Sabers responded by putting away Prince George's County power Gwynn Park in the final 16 minutes to post a 58-49 victory last night in the 10th annual Basketball Academy at Morgan State. Southwestern (7-2) outscored Gwynn Park 14-6 in the third quarter to take a 41-38 lead and was on its way. "[Leverett]

High school football can bond a community, and there was no doubt that the crowd of just under 1,000 at Annapolis High for the Panthers' opener last night was together after a week of turmoil at the school. "I didn't notice up in the stands too much, but we [the school community] really never got apart," said Annapolis coach Brian Brown, whose team was defeated, 41-7, by Gwynn Park of Prince George's County, the defending Class 3A state champion. "We never got apart." After the post-game handshakes, the teams huddled in the middle of the field for a prayer.

COLLEGE PARK -- City, making its third consecutive trip to the state semifinals, was disappointed again yesterday, losing to sub-.500 Gwynn Park of Prince George's County, 62-60, in a Class 3A state semifinal at Cole Field House.Gwynn Park, which evened its season record at 13-13 with the victory, will play Thomas Johnson for the Class 3A state title at Cole at 3 p.m. tomorrow. The 26-1 Frederick squad ripped Aberdeen, 101-60, in yesterday's other Class 3A semifinal.City, ranked No. 6 in metro Baltimore, saw its season end at the hands of a Prince George's County team for the third time.

COLLEGE PARK -- Hoping to better prepare his team for the challenges it might face come March, Winters Mill coach Dave Herman loaded his early season schedule with the likes of Mount St. Joseph and Cardinal Gibbons, an unusual move for a Carroll County program. It was a move, however, that paid huge dividends in last night's Class 2A state semifinals, as the No. 12 Falcons rallied from eight points down with just over four minutes left against perennial Prince George's County power Gwynn Park, then won it, 58-56, on guard Devon Lesniak's off-balance 15-footer at the buzzer.

Derrick Sesker hit a layup with three seconds left in overtime to lift visiting Gwynn Park of Prince George's County to the Class 3A East Regional boys basketball championship, 70-68, over No. 2 Annapolis last night. Laronja Owens, who led Annapolis (25-1) with 21 points, fired up a desperation three-pointer near midcourt that came up short as the buzzer sounded in front of an overflow crowd. Sesker, a senior, scored eight of his 18 points in overtime after a controversial ending to regulation with the score tied at 55. Senior Louis Hinnant, who finished with a game-high 27 points for Gwynn Park (23-2)