The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Huskies upset Allegany, advance
to region title game on Saturday
* Brosnihan, role players come up big for Northern Garrett
* Huskies nail ten 3-pointers and lead most of 32 minutes

By Kevin Spradlin
The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
CUMBERLAND, March 3 - The last time the Northern Garrett girls basketball team played at Allegany, the Huskies couldn't exit the gym quickly enough.

On Wednesday, the second-ranked Huskies had every reason to stick around a little while. After all, the nine team members, coaches, family and friends had nothing better to do than to celebrate their dominating 72-57 win over top-ranked Allegany in the Class 1A West Region west sectional title game.

Even as the Allegany clean-up crew turned off the gymnasium lights, the visiting crowd was slow to depart. But the news wasn't all good. Allegany outrebounded the Huskies 36-22.

"We got our butts kicked on the boards," said Northern Garrett coach Steve Fratz, "but it didn't matter. You've got nothin' to rebound when you make 'em."

The Huskies were on target early and shot 5-for-7 from three-point range in the first quarter.

Northern Garrett advances to Saturday's 1A West Region championship game at Frederick Community College. Tip-off is at 12 noon against Smithsburg, which beat Catoctin 53-34 in the West Region east sectional title game.

It's the first time since the 1996-97 season that Northern Garrett has reached the regional title game.

The Huskies did a good job of keeping Leah Wormack from getting too close to the basket early on. The Campers' senior still finished with 29 points, but seven of them were scored in the fourth quarter when the ball game was all but lost anyway.

Northern controlled the tempo from the second possession of the game onward. The key to the Huskies' win was patient shooting and, when open, finding the net from beyond the 3-point line. Terra McKenzie opened up the scoring for Northern with a 3-pointer only 38 seconds into the game to put the Huskies on top, 3-2.

The Huskies followed Wormack's second field goal of the game with consecutive 3-pointers by Kaitlynn Fratz and Morgan Brosnihan, who shined all night offensively and defensively.

Brosnihan tied the game 11-11 with a bucket with 3:14 left on the clock in the first quarter but Brooke Wharton scored 18 seconds after that for Allegany's third - and last - lead of the game.

Brosnihan sandwiched a field goal in between two 3-pointers by Fratz, the latter of which capped an 8-0 run that gave Northern a 19-13 lead.

The teams traded baskets over the first part of the second quarter. Allegany pulled within six points with 3:49 left before halftime. Fratz earned her third foul of the game and sat the rest of the quarter. If Allegany was to move, it had to move at this point.

It didn't. Role players Allison Yommer (solid post play against a superior Wormack) and Sydney McFarland (key steals and rebounds) helped the Huskies not only maintain a lead but increase it by six points.

Yommer hit two free throws with 2:38 left before the half to put Northern up 30-22. Wormack scored twice, but Yommer hit a field goal, Brosnihan hit another 3-pointer and Terra McKenzie drove inside for a layup and, drawing a foul, completed the three-point play by sinking the free throw with 2.3 seconds left on the clock.

Northern led 38-26 at halftime and with Fratz back on the court at the start of the third quarter, momentum belonged to the visiting team. Wharton and Courtney Landis helped bring Allegany back to within eight points with 2:40 remaining in the third period

But this time it was McKenzie finding the net from 3-point range. Yommer hit a layup for a 47-40 lead and Brosnihan hit yet another 3-pointer as the Huskies entered the fourth quarter with a 50-40 lead.

The Campers pulled to within seven points twice in the final period. But Kiersten Butler nailed Northern's 10th 3-pointer of the game with 2:51 to play for a 60-50 lead. McKenzie followed that up with a fastbreak layup. In the final 91 seconds, hit 10 free throws to hold of any thoughts by Allegany of a late comeback.

The win, considered rather unlikely headed into the game as Allegany had won 19 straight - including a dominant performance over Northern - brought back five-year-old memories. When this year's senior class - led by Wormack, Wharton, Fratz, McKenzie and Brosnihan - was in eighth grade, the Cumberland team won 52 straight games.

But the little team that could from Accident ended that streak, too.