Mavericks

Backup center James Donaldson was suspended by the Dallas Mavericks for last night's game against the San Antonio Spurs after a practice scuffle that slightly injured one player.On Tuesday, Donaldson skirmished with guard Rolando Blackman. Guard Derek Harper was scratched twice under an (( eye trying to break up the scuffle.Dallas has lost 13 of 14, and Donaldson said the losing created tension. Harper disagreed."This has nothing to do with what's going on out on the floor," he said. "James is just a 7-foot punk."

It wasn't an easy road this fall for the Manchester Valley High School girls' soccer team. After winning the school's first-ever state championship last fall, the Mavericks endured graduation losses at several key spots, and with a 4-3-2 record at midseason, coach Joe Miller's team was far from a lock to repeat as Class 1A state champions. At that point, the coach made some lineup changes and watched his charges take off. A season-ending nine-game winning streak was more than enough to propel the team to a second straight Manchester Valley state championship.

Before the season began, Eastern Tech softball coach Marian Klein was surprisingly optimistic for someone who had just four returning starters from an 8-8 team that didn't make the playoffs."

The junior forward scored two goals, including the game-winner, to lead the No. 14 Mavericks (13-3-2) to a 3-1 wiin over Brunswick on Saturday to capture their second straight Class 1A state championship at UMBC Stadium. The Mavericks were down, 1-0, to the Railroaders late in the first half when Rickabaugh made her first big contribution, getting dragged down in the penalty area to set up a game-tying score on a penalty kick by Karlyn Warzinski with 2:50 reminaing until the break. A little more than a minute later, Rickabaugh sent Manchester Valley into halftime with a 2-1 lead when she finished off a chance from 10 yards.

It wasn't an easy road this fall for the Manchester Valley High School girls' soccer team. After winning the school's first-ever state championship last fall, the Mavericks endured graduation losses at several key spots, and with a 4-3-2 record at midseason, coach Joe Miller's team was far from a lock to repeat as Class 1A state champions. At that point, the coach made some lineup changes and watched his charges take off. A season-ending nine-game winning streak was more than enough to propel the team to a second straight Manchester Valley state championship.

The Dallas Mavericks, for all the wrong reasons, are one of the most feared teams in the NBA.No self-respecting team wants to lose to the Mavericks, who bring a 6-59 record to the Capital Centre tonight to play the Washington Bullets.Until their recent signing of recalcitrant first-round draft choice Jim Jackson and consecutive victories last week over Orlando and Philadelphia -- their first road win of the year -- the Mavericks appeared a safe bet to replace the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (9-73)

DALLAS -- There was another inspirational victory in a Los Angeles Lakers game, only they were not the winners in this one.A day after beating the Houston Rockets in overtime, the Lakers let the post-Roy Tarpley, out-on-their-feet Dallas Mavericks climb off the deck. The Mavericks rallied from a 14-point deficit and smoked the Lakers for the rest of Friday night, winning, 99-86.After the first quarter, the Mavericks, who had just lost back-to-back games to the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat, not to mention their past six in Reunion Arena to the Lakers, shot 60 percent.

As the "Three J's," Jim Jackson, Jamal Mashburn and Jason Kidd once graced the cover of the Dallas Mavericks' media guide. They filmed promotional videos together and were supposed to return the Mavericks to respectability in the NBA.Instead, the Three J's have been reduced by one with the trade of Kidd last week to the Phoenix Suns, and by next month all the J's might be gone as rumors persist that Mashburn and Jackson are on the trading block.What went wrong in Dallas? No one was getting along.

LANDOVER -- The law of averages caught up with the Washington Bullets and Dallas Mavericks at the Capital Centre last night.The Bullets had made a habit of winning close games this season, capturing seven of 10 decided by three points or fewer. The Mavericks had managed to lose seven games in the last 30 seconds.But this time the teams reversed roles. The Mavericks repeatedly made clutch shots in the last two minutes to hold off the Bullets, 99-96, before 11,013.Washington (18-23), which finished the first half of its season with consecutive home losses to Indiana and Dallas, three times closed within a point in the final 92 seconds.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Programmers are often thought of as the mavericks of the computer business, and in many respects that's true.But during the past 10 years, as personal computers have moved from hobbyist oddities to household appliances, the business of programming has changed. Development is more corporate, organized, driven by business plans and marketing white papers instead of the creative spark of a maverick's imagination.Except for computer games, that is.Software is usually written in modules by teams of programmers at companies with millions of dollars in annual revenues.

Fall behind a goal, don't panic, score two goals before the half and successfully go from there. For the Manchester Valley girls soccer team, it proved to be a winning pattern against Brunswick in two meetings this season. The latest, coming Saturday at UMBC Stadium, gave the Mustangs their second straight Class 1A state championship. Senior Karlyn Warzinski and junior Jamie Rickabaugh scored goals less than two minutes apart near the end of the first half, and Rickabaugh added a goal after halftime to complete a 3-1 win over the Railroaders from Frederick County.

BALTIMORE - Midway through the fourth quarter of Saturday's Class 1A North Region playoff game, Manchester Valley's football squad came to the crossroads. A swarming Reginald Lewis defense and a couple of penalties had forced the Mavericks into a fourth down and 24 yards-to-go situation. No problem. Senior quarterback Dom Frank calmly dropped back and found wide receiver Zach Heron down the left sideline, just a step ahead of the Lewis defense. Frank threw a pinpoint pass that was hauled in by Heron for a 33-yard gain and a crucial first down.

Trailing Reginald F. Lewis by a point late in Saturday's Class 1A North regional football playoffs, Manchester Valley coach Tony Shermeyer decided to take a big risk -- and the gamble paid off. On fourth-and-24 from their own 46-yard line, the Mavericks went for it and quarterback Dominick Frank, who had just run for 17 yards on third-and-41, completed a 33-yard pass to Zach Heron. Helped along by two Falcons penalties, the Mavericks scored three plays later on a 6-yard run. Kyle Armstrong's extra point gave Manchester Valley a 20-14 lead with 2:46 left that would hold up for the first football playoff win in school history.

The Westminster High football team had two goals in mind when it entered Ruby Field on Friday night: beat longtime rival South Carroll for the county title, and complete the first undefeated and untied regular season in school history. With those accomplishments now in hand, the Owls can move on to their main goal of winning the school's first state football championship. Westminster effectively mixed its running and passing games and unleashed the county's best defense in a 42-7 romp over the Cavaliers on Friday night at Ruby Field.  Coach Brad Wilson's team completed the first undefeated regular season in program history, while earning its second consecutive county championship.

As Manchester Valley closed out the team's 26-7 win over rival North Carroll on Friday night, the PA announcer thanked fans for their support during the season and congratulated the Mavericks on posting a winning record this year. But that winning season isn't over. The Mavericks' win over North Carroll in the annual "Battle of the Bypass" game, combined with Northwestern-Baltimore High School's loss to Reginald Lewis High School earlier on Friday, clinched the first-ever playoff spot for the four-year-old Maverick football program.

This story has been updated. In 2009, Manchester Valley High School fielded its first-ever football team - and went winless in 10 games. Three years later, the Mavericks posted their first-ever winning season - and their first run for a playoff appearance. And while football is a team game, no single player has been more important to the growth and success of the program than senior quarterback Dominick "Dom" Frank. A three-year starter at quarterback, Frank's passing and running skills have been the key to Manchester Valley's steady improvement.

DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks were not at their best last night, but the Washington Bullets were no match for them at Reunion Arena.Time and again the Mavericks went through stretches of scoring slumps and the Bullets could not capitalize. When it was over, Dallas' Rolando Blackman had scored 28 in leading the Mavericks to a 121-96 victory before 17,007."I don't know if I'm disappointed or not," said Bullets coach Wes Unseld. "We were completely out of sync."The Bullets managed to get as close as two near the end of the first quarter, but were down by 63-43 at the end of the half.

Eastern Tech's Kevin Murray slugged his team to a nine-run lead over Patapsco, then replaced the starting pitcher for the final two innings of a wild 10-9 Baltimore County East Division win.And what a relief Murray was.The sophomore left fielder went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the first inning, to lead the visiting Mavericks' 13-hit attack. Kenny Bolyard was 2-for-5 with two runs scored for Patapsco (3-1, 1-1 league), which rapped 10 hits.In an earlier 5-4 victory at Eastern Tech, Patapsco had built an early 5-0 lead before holding off the Mavericks.

Orioles catcher Matt Wieters joked that he will receive no slack from his wife, Maria, if he ever has to catch another 18-inning game. That's because Maria was in labor for 23 hours, from Thursday morning into early Friday, before giving birth to the couple's first child, an 8-pound, 2-ounce, 23 1/4-inch boy named Maverick Luther Wieters. "No sympathy for me," Wieters said before playing Saturday's game against Boston. "Catching 18 innings was a lot easier than what she had to do. I'd probably have to catch three in a row, 18-inning games, to equal that.

Home Turf: 3300 Maple Grove Road, Manchester Head Coach: Tony Shermeyer 2011 Record: 5-5 overall, 4-3 county Tony Shermeyer built a standout Century High football program that, in 2008, achieved an undefeated regular season, won county and regional championships, and advanced to the Class 2A state semifinals. That was Shermeyer's final season at Century, as the Pennsylvania resident accepted the challenge to start a program from scratch at the new Manchester Valley High School.