Lally

Stephanie Connelly of Pasadena shot a second-round 77 for a 36-hole total 153 to qualify for match play, then won her first-round match at the 54th U.S. Girls' Junior Championship yesterday at Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield, N.J. Connelly, who defeated Amanda Wilson of Hilo, Hawaii, 1-up, was the only one of three Middle Atlantic qualifiers to advance. Jenny Suh of Fairfax, Va., had 83-76-159, then lost to Hannah Jun of San Diego, 5 and 4. Theresa Paik of Silver Spring, who posted 81-80-161, survived a playoff, then lost in the first round to Taylor Leon of Dallas, 3 and 2. Two other local players failed to advance as Julia Huh of Pasadena had 84-84-168, and Michelle Grilli of Pikesville had 84-94-178.

Two months after the Prince George's County school system made a large purchase from the education technology firm LeapFrog SchoolHouse, the company gave a major promotion to the county schools chief's girlfriend, the company has confirmed. LeapFrog SchoolHouse's chief executive said the August promotion of Sienna Owens from the Virginia sales territory to a national sales position was unrelated to the $1 million purchase of LeapFrog materials in June by Prince George's schools superintendent Andre J. Hornsby, which is now under scrutiny by state and federal investigators.

A Baltimore County dentist who drove his Mercedes-Benz off Paper Mill Road, smashed a 15-year-old boy's left ankle into a tree and then drove away, escaped a jail term yesterday in Owings Mills District Court.Michael James Bennett, 50, of Phoenix was sentenced to a suspended one-year term, ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service and fined $1,550 by Judge I. Marshall Seidler.He was found guilty of failing to stop, failing to render aid and failing to control his speed.Judge Seidler rejected a demand for a jail term from prosecutor Alexandra N. Williams.

At least two developers are vying to lure the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from its outdated Rockville complex in Montgomery County to spacious new digs in Prince George's County. Each firm is interested in building almost 1 million square feet of office space for HHS near a Metro stop in Prince George's County. If constructed, such a complex would relocate about 5,000 federal jobs to the county, fatten property tax coffers and serve as a major anchor near a transit station.

Hammond's Daushawn Dillahunt made only one basket last night, but it was a winner.His 12-foot, pull-up jumper off a fast break with six seconds left handed Hammond a 53-52 victory at Oakland Mills last night, and along with it, undisputed possession of second place in the county league."

Hammond used its superior inside game to rout Long Reach, 75-58, last night in a battle for first place in Howard County.The Bears (8-3 overall, 6-1) broke out to a 10-2 advantage and led wire-to-wire by as many as 19 points.Long Reach (6-5, 5-2) rallied to within seven points, 50-43, with two minutes left in the third quarter but eventually fell to its fourth loss in the last five games.The Lightning didn't have a player over 6 feet tall, and it showed. Forward Devin Conwell (13 points) was the only inside player who made an impact.

Scott T. Eckrote won his dog Barkley back yesterday after testifying that he was stupid to have walked the young Chesapeake Bay retriever from his moving car.Baltimore County District Judge G. Darrell Russell Jr. listened to several witnesses describe a close bond between master and the otherwise well-cared-for dog."He did a damn stupid thing that day," Judge Russell said of Mr. Eckrote after the two-hour hearing at which he granted Mr. Eckrote's petition for the return of the animal from the Baltimore County Animal Shelter in Baldwin.

When String Bean - that's his nickname since high school - saw two masked men walk into the Susquehanna Bank in Cockeysville one morning last October, he decided to stay in his car in the parking lot a little while longer. What's the rush to cash a check, anyway? It can wait.Ol' String made a smart decision. Those guys weren't dressed for Halloween; they were dressed for robbery, and one of them had a gun. This happened shortly after 9:30 on Thursday, Oct. 2, and when the two banditos emerged at a trot from the bank, Ol' String, mild-mannered salesman for a local printing company, decided to do something he'd never done before, something neither a Baltimore County circuit judge nor a seasoned prosecutor could remember a private citizen ever doing before.

The reasons for Hammond's 58-55 road victory over Centennial last night were fundamental.The Golden Bears took care of the ball well, were patient on offense, and excelled on defense.Sound fundamental basketball has Hammond at 4-0 in Howard County and 4-1 overall, despite playing without potential 6-foot-4 starter Ryan Pflugrad, who is out six weeks with a foot injury.Hammond, county runner-up last season, made only seven turnovers and shot 23-for-50 (46 percent) from the floor to end a six-game losing streak against the Eagles.

Atholton had 28 reasons to be ready for yesterday's showdown with league tri-leader Hammond. That's the number of points by which Hammond defeated Atholton six weeks ago.The No. 17-ranked Raiders (13-3 overall, 10-2 league) were more than ready. Led by Brian Boykins' 30 points, they trounced visiting Hammond, 74-52, producing an unlikely 50-point turnaround."We knew we had lost the first one and needed to play with intensity," Boykins said. "We didn't really understand our defense the first time we played them.