Straight Points

Kiesha Brooks scored 24 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead visiting Coppin State to a 67-58 victory over Morgan State last night in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for both schools. Antoinette Reese had 12 points and Shamara Singleterry, Shequera Dickerson and Shannon Muir each scored six for Coppin (2-1). The Bears (0-2) were led by Shakira Smith's game-high 30 points. Tamara Parham added 10 points and 12 rebounds. High Point 89, Navy 76: Debbie Ruiz scored 24 second-half points to lift High Point, as the host Midshipmen dropped their season opener.

This season, the Towson football team had encountered its fair share of struggles in the first quarter, allowing opponents to score first in five of its last six games. That concern has now flipped to the final period. After surrendering 22 consecutive points -- including 15 in a 29-second span in the final minute of regulation -- in Saturday's 32-31 loss to No. 21 Delaware, the Tigers are questioning how they failed to protect a 31-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. Coach Rob Ambrose said Monday morning during a conference call arranged by the Colonial Athletic Association that the team has to develop a killer instinct.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Washington Bullets remain winless in December.The Indiana Pacers worked inside early and outside late to hand the Bullets their eighth consecutive loss, 106-87, last night at Market Square Arena.Inside, 7-foot-4 center Rik Smits and 6-11 forward Dale Davis dominated the Bullets, especially in the early going. Smits scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half and Davis had 10 points (of 15) and eight rebounds (of 12) before the intermission.In the second half, the Indiana guards took control.

Arundel coach Chuck Markiewicz thought his team seemed a bit nervous in the first part of Friday night's game at Old Mill. But once the Wildcats settled down, they took command. No. 6 Old Mill jumped out to a 14-point lead midway through the second quarter. That's when Arundel quarterback Jack Gordon and wide receiver Tyler Young helped the Wildcats make numerous big plays and score 40 consecutive points en route to a 66-34 rout which ended the Patriots' 19-game winning streak. That streak was the Baltimore area's longest active one, and Old Mill (5-1)

The No. 2 Reservoir volleyball team was in dire need of a spark. The Lady Gators had just been picked apart by River Hill outside hitter Maddi Lee and were down 1-0 in games in the Hawks gymnasium. Reservoir captain Jamie Huffman huddled the team together, and yelled, "Ladies, we have all the momentum!" She was right, as the team reeled off three straight games to win, 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-19). "It was only one game, there's still four more to play if we needed to," Huffman said.

The Institute of Notre Dame used a little luck and a lot of Kortni Webb to defeat Lake Clifton, 60-56, last night in the final opening-round game of the Holly & Hoops Women's Basketball Tournament at Essex Community College.After Webb scored all of her game-high 18 points in a 13-minute span in the middle of the game, the Indians held off the No. 8 Lakers' furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt to preserve the win.Notre Dame advances to tomorrow night's 9 p.m. Hoops division final against Bryn Mawr, a winner over Southern-AA in the other opening-round game.

Third-ranked River Hill outlasted fourth-ranked Mount Hebron, 15-11, 13-15, 15-17, 15-10, 15-11 yesterday in a Class 2A South first-round playoff match at Mount Hebron.Mount Hebron (10-6) had been an underachieving team all season. But the Vikings, who will lose only two seniors, showed how good they could be with a terrific effort against the Hawks."That was the best match we've ever played," said second-year coach Kedre Fairley. "I think it was a shock to them [River Hill] that we played like that."

Liberty's young volleyball team has developed the habit of playing better in pressure situations. The Lions displayed that trait once again yesterday in the final of the Carroll County tournament. After a shaky performance in the second game of the best-of-three final against host South Carroll, No. 13 Liberty quickly refocused and used an 11-point run in the deciding game for an easy victory. The Lions came away with a 15-12, 5-15, 15-3 win and their second straight tournament championship.

A Spirit offense that resembled an irresistible force for a half last night suddenly found the goal the size of a shoe box and tumbled to its 10th loss, with Milwaukee prevailing, 23-19.Now we know why the visitors' nickname is the Wave. That's what Milwaukee resembled as it recovered from a 16-10 deficit late in the second period and scored 13 straight points to boost its record to 9-1.Led by Bo Vuckovic, who had nine points in the first 25 minutes on two goals, two shootout tallies and three assists, the Spirit had a nine-point run to assume the 16-10 lead.

Bel Air wanted to keep the ball out of Aberdeen guard Kashif Brown's hands last night. The plan worked nicely - for the first three quarters. Brown took command in the fourth quarter, scoring 19 of his game-high 28 points to help No. 9 Aberdeen rally for a 72-66 victory over host Bel Air in an Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference game. The 6-foot, 160-pound Brown was able to get into the lane in the fourth period much more than earlier. Brown often tried to create for 7-foot center Robbie Jackson (16 points, 14 rebounds)

After winning the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference girls basketball title last season, some of Archbishop Spalding's veterans figured it wouldn't be too hard to repeat - until McDonogh showed them otherwise just before Christmas. The No. 4 Cavaliers learned a valuable lesson with that loss, and the change of attitude fostered success in their next conference game as they rolled over No. 8 Roland Park, 84-48, Wednesday night. "That changed everything," Cavaliers senior Camille Calhoun said of the 56-39 home-court loss to No. 3 McDonogh on Dec. 15. "We needed that because we were thinking we were too good for everyone.

After Arundel quarterback Cooper Hibbs used a no-huddle offense to put together scoring drives on his team's first two possessions Thursday night, third-ranked Old Mill adjusted by getting out of its zone defense and using multiple blitz packages to lock him down. The Patriots then put the ball in the hands of their best playmaker, Rob Chesson, and took control, scoring seven consecutive touchdowns en route to a 47-10 victory before an estimated 3,000 at No. 5 Arundel. Chesson had 233 yards on 34 carries with five touchdowns as Old Mill solidified its top spot in the Class 4A East rankings and made itself the lone undefeated team in Anne Arundel County.

Aberdeen's Bri Jones left no question which team was going to states when she dominated the third quarter of Saturday night's Class 3A regional girls basketball championship at Hereford. Jones, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, scored 18 straight third-quarter points and finished with 28 to lead the No. 2 Eagles to a 71-32 victory over Hereford for their first trip to the state semifinals since 2003. The Eagles (23-1) will meet the winner of Saturday night's South region final between Largo and Friendly Thursday night at UMBC.

Atholton surprised River Hill in the first half of Friday night's battle between the two unbeaten Howard County teams. The Hawks allowed only 37 points in their first eight games, but Atholton quarterback Kalvin Seamonson threw touchdown passes of 90 and 80 yards to Matt Robinson as the Raiders took a seven-point halftime lead. Everything changed in the second half. No. 3 River Hill scored all 28 points of the final two quarters - 21 of which came in the third period - and locked up its seventh straight Howard County title with a 35-14 victory over No. 14 Atholton.

Western came out flat in last night's game at City. The Doves missed their first six shots, scored only four points in the opening 12 minutes and trailed by nine at halftime. But senior guard Akeema Richards then took command. She scored 11 consecutive points to spark the offense in the second half and finished with 21 to help No. 2 Western come back for a 51-48 victory over No. 4 City. The win put Western (13-6, 7-0 league) in excellent position to get back to the city title game, which the Doves have won the past three years.

The No. 2 Reservoir volleyball team was in dire need of a spark. The Lady Gators had just been picked apart by River Hill outside hitter Maddi Lee and were down 1-0 in games in the Hawks gymnasium. Reservoir captain Jamie Huffman huddled the team together, and yelled, "Ladies, we have all the momentum!" She was right, as the team reeled off three straight games to win, 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-19). "It was only one game, there's still four more to play if we needed to," Huffman said.

South Carroll volleyball coach Debbie Eaton knew her squad was capable of beating three-time Carroll County champion Liberty. Nearly three weeks after her Cavaliers blew a golden chance to do just that, they proved her correct. Middle hitter Dianne Murphy had 14 kills and two blocks, helping the host Cavaliers hand the No. 12 Lions their first county defeat in more than two years, 12-15, 15-12, 15-9, 16-14, in the regular-season finale for both teams. "We needed this one bad -- we really did," said Eaton, whose team had been the last in the county to beat the Lions, on Oct. 10, 2000.

College Park -- Before yesterday's game against Miami, Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen led his team in a private prayer. They prayed for Miami, and for the friends and family of defensive tackle Bryan Pata, who was fatally shot Tuesday night after practice. They also prayed for themselves, and when it came down to explaining the 14-13 win that followed, the only answer everyone seemed to agree on was "faith." Maryland@Boston College Saturday, time and TV TBA, 1300 AM, 105.7 FM

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Not even a concrete wall could quell the bedlam resonating from the visiting team's locker room yesterday at Scott Stadium. Although his words were muffled, the emotion in coach Ralph Friedgen's voice was clear, and his post-game victory speech was soon replaced by booming baritones singing the Maryland "Victory Song." The players and coaches barked out "M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D" in unison, the finale to a celebration of their 28-26 come-from-behind win at Virginia - the program's first victory here since 1990.