Spurt

With the exception of 40 minutes of yesterday's 14-10 victory over Villanova, last week was a most productive one for Towson State.After a crucial victory at Maryland on March 14, coach Carl Runk made the most of spring break, sending his young Tigers through several two-a-day practices. All of the lessons were not visible at Minnegan Stadium yesterday, as the Tigers trailed 3-1 after one quarter and were unable to put away the Wildcats after surging to a 10-4 lead in the third quarter.Before and after a mid-game 9-1 spurt, Towson State committed too many errors for Runk's taste.

The Towson men's lacrosse team took just one lead in Tuesday night's game against Navy, and that's all the Tigers would need. Sophomore midfielder Greg Cuccinello's goal with 10:28 remaining in the fourth quarter gave Towson an 8-7 victory over the Midshipmen before an announced 824 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Tigers trailed for 38 minutes, 42 seconds - including a 3-0 deficit after the first quarter - but Cuccinello's heroics led them to the program's first win at Navy.

Defending conference champion Bowie State, ranked sixth in Division II, used a 16-3 run over the final 2: 28 to pull away from Shaw University, 72-58, in the semifinals of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C., yesterday.Bowie State faces Livingstone in tonight's final at 6: 30.Tarsha Wilson led Bowie State with 19 points and Rashia Brooks had 16.MenBCCC 80, Frederick 72: Anton Jenifer scored 29 points in the Region XX tournament win.Pub Date: 2/28/98

City sank five of its first seven shots and raced to a 12-5 lead in just under four minutes at the start of Tuesday's game against visiting Dunbar. The Poets couldn't get started on offense, which delighted the screaming City fans in the packed gym. That's when Daxter Miles changed everything - very quickly. Miles needed just one minute, 20 seconds to score seven straight points as part of a 13-point run that gave Dunbar the lead for good. The senior guard finished with a game-high 21 points as No. 3 Poets rolled to a 61-45 victory over No. 8 City.

WASHINGTON -- Darryl Franklin scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to give American University a 65-58 victory over Loyola last night.Loyola (1-1) took a 50-48 lead on a layup by Roderick Platt with 4:35 remaining in regulation, but American (1-0) went on a 14-2 run to clinch the victory. Franklin scored 12 of the 14 points during the decisive run.Franklin hit a three-pointer with 4:12 remaining to send American ahead 51-50 and then tallied another three-pointer 40 seconds later to extend the lead to four.

This time, top-ranked Seton Keough would not need overtime to beat No. 4 John Carroll.A mid-game spurt carried the Gators to a 62-53 victory in last night's Catholic League showdown at Seton Keough.The Gators, who pulled out a 48-45 overtime win at John Carroll on Jan. 3, outscored the Patriots, 18-3, over a 5 1/2 -minute period spanning halftime. After Denise King converted a break-away layup with 4: 58 left in the third quarter, the Gators led 43-29.The Patriots never got closer than within seven, and that wasn't until the final 37 seconds, when Katie Kilgalen's 22-footer cut the margin to 60-53.

There are no figures in women's figure skating. Kimmie Meissner is finding that out the hard way. A growth spurt, or just a couple of pounds on hips and thighs, can upset a world-class skater's finely calibrated internal gyroscope or put stress on a teenager's developing bones. It happened to five-time world champion Michelle Kwan. It happened to former U.S. champion Sasha Cohen. And now, say skating experts who have watched Meissner's recent struggles, it's happening to her. Just two years ago, Meissner won the world championship and followed it last year with the U.S. Championship.

An average American teen-ager eats more than four times a day, 365 days a year. Almost 50 percent of teens order a hamburger when they go out for fast food. And one in six teen eating occasions falls between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.All these foodie facts and more are part of "A Day in the Life of a Teen's Appetite," a study based on two-day diaries from 743 teens and more than 6,400 individual teen meals that was released in June by Channel One Network.Channel One Network, with offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, produces Channel One News - a daily news and information program seen daily by 8 million American 12- to 17-year-olds in their homeroom classes.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Calbert Cheaney scored 19 points, including five in a 13-2 first-half spurt that broke the game open, and No. 9 Indiana routed Notre Dame, 78-46, last night.Indiana (2-1) beat Notre Dame (0-2) for the eighth time in Bloomington since the 1973-74 season and kept John MacLeod winless since becoming the Irish coach this season.Indiana's Eric Anderson scored 14 points off the bench while Greg Graham added 14 and Damon Bailey 11. LaPhonso Ellis led Notre Dame with 15 points and Elmer Bennett added 14.Indiana's barrage began with a 19-5 surge to open the game.

Keith Holtman, Eastern Tech Sport Basketball BOYS STATS -- The 6-foot-9 sophomore can be a distruptive force for the Mavericks, contributing two blocks, five rebounds and three points per game for the Baltimore County 2A-1A contenders. Only a third-year basketball player, Holtman sparked last year's junior varsity squad to a runner-up finish to Randallstown, losing the title game at the buzzer. SIDELINES -- Holtman was a recreation league pitcher until he was 12, when he completed a two-year, 6-inch growth spurt that made him 6-8. "That's when people told me I should start playing basketball," Holtman, 15, said.

There was a significant stretch during Tuesday's game against visiting Lake Clifton when everything at both ends went just about right for City. It began in the closing minutes of the first quarter, continued into the second and leaked into the third. The Knights stole passes, blocked shots and dominated the boards on defense. And then they shared the ball, charged to the basket and drained shots from the outside on offense. By the time that run was over midway through the third quarter, No. 7 City had turned a tie game into an 18-point advantage, more than enough to survive a late rally and come away with a 54-38 win over No. 13 Lake Clifton in Baltimore City Division I play.

For the first time in decades, Census Bureau data suggest that the population of Washington, D.C., has surpassed that of Baltimore. The District gained more than 13,000 new residents between July 2011 and July 2012, for a total of 632,323. Baltimore's 2012 estimate won't be released for a few months, but unless the city saw remarkable (and heretofore unnoticed) growth during that period, it will have fallen behind. What accounts for Washington's remarkable growth spurt, and are there any lessons in it for Baltimore as it seeks to attract new residents?

The situation facing No. 8 Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon felt a little familiar to the Blue Jays. Army displayed a few techniques in hopes of obtaining the same result as Navy did against Hopkins a few weeks ago. Like Navy, No. 20 Army used a deliberate offense and stayed within striking distance for most of the first half Saturday, but Hopkins had two scoring spurts in the second half to turn a close game into a 13-6 victory before a...

No. 4 Stevenson is 14-4 and despite falling to No. 1 and nine-time reigning national champion Salisbury in Saturday's Capital Athletic Conference tournament final, the Mustangs are virtually assured of a berth in the NCAA tournament. But each of their four losses have been marked by runs made by opponents. No. 3 Lynchburg scored all four goals in the second half en route to a 6-3 win on March 10, and No. 2 Cortland embarked on a 4-0 run in the first 4 minutes, 28 seconds of the third quarter for a 13-9 victory.

Goucher is off to an 8-1 start, enjoying a five-game winning streak that includes a 7-6 overtime win against previously unbeaten Mary Washington last Wednesday. The senior attack duo of Kyle Boncaro (26 goals and 16 assists) and Rory Averett (28, 8) have powered the offense, but starting midfielders Matt Lynch (14, 15), Pierce Ingram (10, 1) and Zach Fratella (8, 3) are third, tied for fourth and tied for fourth in points, respectively. That balance has been critical, according to coach Kyle Hannan.

Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve seem to have run out of ammo. It's gridlock as usual for Congress. States and cities are cutting spending and shedding jobs. Is it time for the spender of last resort — the American consumer — to put a prop under the economy? Spending per shopper over the post-Thanksgiving weekend was set to pop by 9.1 percent compared with that of the same period last year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. Store traffic was up 6.6 percent, and the federation says average outlays per shopper were $399, up from $365 last year.

    Dan Rodricks' article on housing growth vs. sustainability ("Is more growth always good?" July 11) was right on target.  America's "growth spurt" in the last half of the 20th century is like that of a teenager -- expected, but awkward, unbalanced and stressful.      When teenagers become adults the nature of "growth" must change.  An adult can't keep growing taller and fatter forever.  Hopefully, he grows and develops in ways that make him smarter, stronger and healthier.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton ran off a 26-2 spurt during a 15-minute, 33-second span when it held Yale without a field goal last night and the Tigers defeated the Bulldogs, 55-27, in the Ivy League opener for both schools.The 27 points were the fewest by Yale since it dropped a 56-38 decision to Princeton in the 1956-57 season. The team's media guide does not carry its game-by-game results prior to that season. No school officials were available to say when the Bulldogs had fewer points in a game.

MISL Blast gets back at Wave, 12-6, reclaims tie for first place The Blast (6-2) rebounded Sunday to defeat the host Wave, 12-6, and move back into a tie for first place with Milwaukee in the Major Indoor Soccer League. Less than 21 hours after losing to the Wave, 15-12, at 1st Mariner Arena , the Blast jumped to a 10-0 third-quarter lead and completed a split of the weekend series. Pat Healey led the way with two goals and two assists, and backup goalkeeper Nick Hovaker , playing because Sagu suffered a pulled groin Saturday night, was sharp in his Blast debut.

Even before Alex Rodriguez hit that dramatic ninth-inning home run to carry the New York Yankees past the Orioles and back into first place in the American League East on Friday night, manager Buck Showalter was trying to keep the one-sided rivalry from becoming a referendum. It's way too early for that. The Yankees may be the yardstick by which lesser teams measure both pain and gain, but Showalter quickly rattled off the names of the other teams in the division and pointed out that all of them are higher than the O's on the competitive food chain — not just the Yankees.