One week after Pikesville senior Mariah Jones-Bey scored her 1,000th career point, she was part of a workman-like Panther defense that triggered a 47-30 victory at Dulaney on Friday.
That defense was ignited by NyJae Malik-El (12 points) who sparked a 7-0 run with five steals early in the third quarter that turned a 12-point halftime lead to a 39-17 lead at the next break.
“We always say defense first and our offense will come with it,” said Jones-Bey, who scored eight of her 10 points in the third quarter. “We had a talk about us really playing defense and not doing as much reaching and try to get stops and that’s what we did today with a lot of energy.”
Dulaney’s only field goal in the quarter was a 3-pointer by Gabby Watson, who scored a team-high 12 points, with just over two minutes left in the quarter.
“They went on a 7-0 run and I was like ‘We can’t really afford that right now.’ ” Dulaney coach Kourtney Lewis-Orr said.
“We felt good about our defense actually at halftime, but some of the gambles and some of the fouls, we just had to stay a little more disciplined, because the first time we played them they were up at halftime, so we know their three guards are tough,” Pikesville coach Michael Dukes said.
Both Dulaney losses have come by 17 points to the 12-1 Panthers, the closest any Baltimore County team has come to them all season.
“I admire the program. I admire the coaching staff, always have,” Lewis-Orr said. “So I follow them, I check their scores and we’ve kept them to the lowest scores all season. So I just think that’s something for us to be proud of.”
Pikesville got off to a strong start thanks to the strong interior play of Maya Chase, who scored eight of her game-high 15 points in the first quarter.
“She started off a little rocky, but Maya is starting to find herself,” Jones-Bey said. “Everybody was proud of her today. She is playing like her normal self, playing big, showing these people that they can’t guard her, scoring points, finishing free throws. That’s her,”
Both defenses stiffened in the second quarter when Pikesville outscored the Lions, 7-6. Torunn Spencer had four of her seven points in the quarter for Dulaney (6-6), who struggled to score inside and out all night.
“If we could just get a couple more shots and layups to go in, it’s a different ballgame,” Lewis-Orr said.
The 22-point third quarter deficit was too much too overcome for the Lions and both teams utilized their benches in the final quarter.
“This is a good win,” Dukes said. “I think we probably could have scored a little more, but you can see we are using a lot of kids.”
Another tough loss against another tough opponent for Dulaney, but Lewis-Orr magnified the positive.
“It wasn’t a bad loss. I think we played hard. I think we played well,” she said.
A night to remember
When Jones-Bay scored her 1,000th career point Jan. 16 against Hereford, the emotion was felt throughout the entire Pikesville team and fans.
“Everybody cheered for me. Everybody was excited, yelling and they ran on the court showing me love,” Jones-Bey said. “My teammates were crying. It was a good moment for me. I really enjoyed it.”
Tears flowed for Jones-Bey and Dukes even rode the emotional wave. It wasn’t pressure that consumed her leading up the mark.
“I would say excitement,” Jones-Bey said. “Everybody really wanted me to get there. They wanted me to really achieve 1,000 points and you wouldn’t expect everybody to be excited for me, but everybody was excited for me so I really love everybody dearly a lot.”
She joined Charia Roberts as only other 1,000-point scorer at Pikesville. Dukes has cherished her four years in the program.
“I’ve seen this kid grow from when she came in as a freshman,” Dukes said. “We were bringing her off of the bench and at some point we said we’ve got to get her out here because we were struggling at that point position and she was the most natural point guard that we had, so we got her in there. And then the maturation just continued. I mean I can’t think of many high school kids who have had a better career.”
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