Skipjacks survive Hagerstown, advance to finals
FREDERICK – Survive and advance – that's the mantra in tournament basketball. Top-seeded Chesapeake College did both Saturday night, surviving a spirited upset bid by fourth-seeded Hagerstown Community College and advancing to Sunday's 1 p.m. NJCAA Division II Region XX women's basketball title game with a 54-47 victory.
The Skipjacks (21-1) trailed by three at the half and led by just a point, 48-47, in the final minute. That's when Chesapeake all-American Denver Clyde (game-high 23 points) took over, driving the baseline for a layup at one end, pulling down a defensive rebound at the other, and sinking both ends of a one-and-one to spark a game-ending, 6-0 run.
"Honestly, I should have been doing that all game," said Clyde of the baseline layup that gave Chesapeake a 50-47 cushion. "We just had to win this game so we could come back and try to win tomorrow and get back to the national tournament."
"The baseline was open to us all night long," agreed Chesapeake head coach Damon Nichols. "She (Clyde) finally starting driving the baseline and it really helped."
Brittany Taylor, whose steal with 35 seconds left sealed the deal, sank two free throws to complete Chesapeake's game-ending run as the Skipjacks won their 12th straight game.
Chesapeake, the defending Region XX champion, will play second-seeded CCBC-Dundalk in Sunday's title game. Dundalk defeated third-seeded host Frederick Community College, 58-52, in the evening's first semifinal.
Rose Smith and Najah Chambers added eight points each for the Skipjacks while Taylor had five points and Dejhonae Cannady added four. Brianna Lawson, Katara Pressley, and Cierra Tourville contributed two points each.
Hagerstown, which suffered a pair of double-digit losses to Chesapeake in the regular season, had a 27-24 halftime lead. The Hawks (13-14) didn't have a single double-digit scorer, with Deidre Burch's nine points on a trio of treys leading the way in the low-scoring contest. Burch's trey with 2:01 remaining pulled the Hawks within 48-47 and set the stage for Chesapeake's finishing run.