The Middletown High School girls varsity basketball team will head to Walkersville High School to take on the Lady Lions in the 2A West Region Quarterfinal at 6:30 p.m. on Feb.25. The Knights are the eighth seed in the 2A West region and are coming off of a 54-47 win against ninth seed Williamsport.
In their game against the Wildcats, the Knights came out sluggish and out of sync, leading to a tie at halftime against a Williamsport team who they were significantly better than. The Knights did pick it up in the second half as the team’s leading scorer, senior Caitlin McLister, led the way with a team-high 20 points.
The Knights are looking forward to tonight’s game, believing that the Lions have not given them enough respect throughout the season, even with a split of the season series against Walkersville.
MHS junior Morgan Stottlemeyer put it best, saying, “We’re going lion hunting!”
The Lions are the first overall seed in the 2A West Region. This will be their first playoff game of the 2012-2013 season, as they received a bye into the quarterfinals. The MVAL Piedmont division seemed wide open throughout the regular season, but the Lions came out on top with a 13-3 division record, putting them above Oakdale and Middletown.
The Knights split the season series against the Lions, beating Walkersville on Jan. 17 by a score of 48-45. In that game, the Knights were helped by seniors McLister and Brittney George, who combined to score 12 points in the fourth quarter. McLister scored 10 overall in the game, while George had 11, giving the Knights a crucial win as they made their way to the playoffs.
In the second game between these two rivals, the Lions defeated the Knights by a score 62-57 in overtime on Dec. 11. The Lions were paced in this game by WHS senior Dani Medovich, who had 22 points, and junior Tyra Hughes. The Knights struggled to produce offensively, with McLister only scoring 10 points and both McLister and George fouling out during the fourth quarter and overtime, respectively.
Part of the Knights’ struggles in that game was due to the 14-1 run the Lions took out of the gate, which forced the Knights to play catch-up throughout the majority of the game.
Both games between these two teams have been physical, with fouls coming at a fairly high rate in both games. The winner of this game will play the winner of the matchup between 12th seed Francis Scott Key and fourth seed Century.
Other 2A West 1st Round Games: #7 Oakdale defeats #10 Winters Mill 49-47, #6 Liberty defeats #11 Wheaton 72-27, #12 Francis Scott Key defeats #5 Catoctin 54-53.
Tonight’s 2A West Quarterfinals: #8 Middletown at #1 Walkersville 6:30 p.m., #12 Francis Scott Key at #4 Century 6:30 p.m., #6 Liberty at #3 South Carroll 7 p.m., and #7 Oakdale at #2 Poolesville 7 p.m.
Tonight’s 2A Game to Watch: 2A South: #8 Marriotts Ridge at #1 Calvert. The Calvert High School Girls Basketball team will start their quest for a third straight Maryland 2A state championship tonight against Marriotts Ridge.
