Rebounds

If No. 6-ranked St. Mary's continues to play the way it did in the fourth quarter yesterday against No. 7 Mercy, the Saints' recent skid should be history.The Saints had lost their last three games against ranked Catholic League opponents, but yesterday, they rebounded with a 24-point fourth quarter to put away host Mercy, 64-47.For the Magic, the going was tougher without 6-0 All-Metro center Jamie Vogtman, who averages 18 points and 10 rebounds. The senior left-hander is sidelined with sprained ligaments in her left thumb and is questionable for the rest of the season.

UMBC walked on its court last night with the nation's leading rebounder in Monica Logan and visions of pulling off an upset over longtime nemesis Mount St. Mary's.The Mount came out as the runaway leader in the Northeast Conference, armed with a high-profile coaching staff and the second-leading scorer in the conference in senior forward Megan Gardiner.Chalk up another victory for Mount St. Mary's, which is coached by former Mount standout Vanessa Blair and her first cousin Adrian Branch, who is third on Maryland's all-time men's scoring list and won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Numbers can lie, really lie.Old Mill was outshot 43 percent to 26 percent by Glen Burnie last night, out-rebounded 30-24, trailed by nine at the half and 11 to start the third period. And the Patriots' big man, Craig Hall, did not score a single point.But the No. 9-ranked Patriots won, 52-46, slipping past No. 18 Glen Burnie (15-9) in the Class 4A East semifinal played in Millersville. Old Mill (21-3) will visit No. 5 Meade, an overtime winner again last night to tie the county public-schools record for wins in a season, to play for the region title at 7 p.m. Friday.

Since the season began, Navy has lost its most productive big man from last season to a disciplinary action and its most productive big man of this season to a broken arm in practice last Sunday. Matt Fannin tried to compensate for their losses with a career-high 19 rebounds and 16 points last night, but it wasn't enough as the Midshipmen fell to Patriot League rival American University, 66-60, at Alumni Hall. Fannin's rebound total was the highest for Navy since David Robinson had 20 in 1987.

For nearly two full basketball seasons, Aberdeen 7-foot center Robbie Jackson has been called a work in progress. He has shown flashes of brilliance but never put together an all-around game that has indicated that he will become a major force in Harford County. Until last night. In a showdown for first place in the top division of the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference, Jackson dominated, scoring 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds and eight blocks, as the No. 19 Eagles routed host and No. 13 Bel Air, 67-44, before a sold-out crowd.

Oakland Mills' Irving Conwell, the Baltimore Sun's Howard County Basketball Player of the Year last season, doesn't think he's a great player yet. Most opponents might disagree.His definition of great is: "A good all-around player who gets his teammates into the game, makes them better players and produces big plays in the clutch."It might be added that a great player hates to lose as much as Conwell does."I'm happy scoring 10 points as long as we win," Conwell said. "I hate losing, at anything."

BOISE, Idaho - Count Danny Miller among the many players who hated the way he played on Thursday. Count Miller among the many players who made Georgia State pay yesterday. Miller, Maryland's 6-foot-8 junior forward from Mount Holly, N.J., did not earn the biggest headlines after the 79-60 thumping of Georgia State, which put the Terps back in the Sweet 16 for the third time in the past four years. Those belonged to the frontcourt tandem of Lonny Baxter and Terence Morris, who scored only six combined points in a first-round, 83-80 victory over George Mason, by lighting up Georgia State for a combined 33 points and 23 rebounds.

COLLEGE PARK - Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams always appreciated the commodity that Travis Garrison brought to the court. You don't easily find thickly built, 6-foot-8 forwards with the ability to shoot the ball from the outside. That is what drew Division I recruiters to DeMatha High School, where Williams remembers watching Garrison fill it up as a sophomore, en route to becoming a McDonald's All-American as a senior. Getting Garrison to do more - and want to do more - than step out and let the jump shot fly has made for an interesting tug-of-war between coach and player.

Institute of Notre Dame guard Chandrea Jones had what could be called an average game in last night's 57-42 victory over Mercy. Jones, who has posted double doubles in 19 of the team's 21 games, finished with 20 points, 18 rebounds, seven steals and six assists in the 39th annual meeting between the rivals. She delighted the Indians' fans among the raucous, sellout crowd of 4,295 at the Towson Center as she helped carry No. 8 IND to the win in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game.

Through the first three quarters last night, the host Walbrook boys basketball team did everything better than Dunbar. But once again, the No. 3 Poets overcame all that in the final moments, pulling out a 66-61 victory over No. 7 Walbrook in a nondivisional Baltimore City game. Dunbar (15-3), which has already clinched a spot in the city championship game, received a game-high 29 points from senior guard James Taylor and 12 from Jajuan Robinson. Steve Woodard led Walbrook (14-4) with 20 points and 10 rebounds.