’Jacks beat Raptors in first-place battle

WYE MILLS – With each passing game, the 23-point loss to Harford Community College is looking more and more like a mid-season hiccup for the Skipjacks.

Chesapeake College put together a pair of second-half runs and then held off a late-game charge by Montgomery College Wednesday night to notch a 67-64 women's basketball victory in a battle of conference co-leaders.  Sydney Small and Najah Chambers each scored 19 points as the Skipjacks (12-1 overall, 8-1 league) won their third straight since the Harford loss.

"We needed to get at least one loss to say, 'Yes, you're beatable,' " said Chesapeake head coach Damon Nichols of the Harford loss.  "They've been answering the call ever since. . . . The sky's the limit for this team."

"That (the Harford loss) was a wake-up call," said Chambers, who set a career high with her 19 points.  "We thought we were unbeatable and they came into our house and beat us.  Now, the team chemistry is good, we're finishing at the basket, and we're moving the ball around."

The Skipjacks and Harford (16-1, 6-1) are now the only one-loss teams in the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference with Montgomery (14-4, 7-2) and CCBC-Dundalk (13-5, 7-2) sitting a game behind the leaders.

Trailing 31-28 early in the second half, Chesapeake grabbed the lead for good with a 12-1 scoring spree.  Small (five steals, four rebounds) had five points in the run, including a 3-pointer from the corner that gave the Skipjacks the lead for good, 33-32, with 17:15 remaining.  Chesapeake's final three baskets during the run were transition hoops by three different Skipjacks – Brittany Taylor, Small and Denver Clyde – as the Skipjacks built a 40-32 cushion.

"We were getting good steals by being in the correct spot on defense and that was allowing us to score in transition," Nichols said of the go-ahead run.

After Montgomery pulled within 42-39, Chesapeake responded by building a double-digit lead with a 14-4 run.  Small and Clyde (10 points, six rebounds) each drained a 3-pointer and Chambers (five steals, five rebounds) sank four free throws during the surge.

Chesapeake took its biggest lead on a T'Naya Kebe free throw that made it 61-47 with 4:57 remaining, but the Raptors refused to fold.  Montgomery went on a 15-4 run, climaxed by Jameelah Thalley's 3-pointer that pulled the Raptors within 65-62 with 30 seconds remaining.  Taylor (11 points, eight assists, seven rebounds) iced the win by hitting two free throws with 10 seconds remaining.

Nichols praised the play of Taylor, who pushed the ball at every opportunity.

"Brittany Taylor is the floor general," said Nichols.  "If she's running, everybody else needs to run with her."

Thalley scored a game-high 21 points, including four of Montgomery's seven 3-pointers.  Desha Nourn and Angelica Ceccone each added 10 points for the Raptors.

The Raptors had a 27-26 lead after a first half that matched Montgomery's five 3-pointers (compared to one for Chesapeake) with the Skipjacks' six fast-break baskets.  Small led all first-half scorers with 10 points, including four transition lay-ups.

Notes:  Rose Smith added six points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Skipjacks. . . .

The only sour note for the Skipjacks was their free-throw shooting.  Chesapeake went 19-for-33 at the foul line, just less than 58 percent. . . .

Chesapeake hosts the College of Southern Maryland Friday night at 5 p.m.

"They're going to be competitive," Nichols said of the Hawks.  "We just have to play our game."