Briana Hutchen fought back tears as she stepped to the foul line with a couple of seconds remaining in Sunday’s IAAM A Conference championship game at UMBC. They were tears of joy for the St. Frances Academy senior who added a memorable footnote in the final chapter of her stellar varsity career.
The No. 1 Panthers defeated No. 2 Archbishop Spalding, 60-50, at the Retriever Athletic Center. It’s the seventh title in the past eight seasons for the east Baltimore school.
Senior guard Shatyra Hawkes had 18 points for St. Frances (23-3 overall), and Hutchen added 17 points including 11 in the second half, and pulled down 12 rebounds. Shaquila Curtis led Spalding (21-5) with 18 points and Maggie Morrison finished with 15 and five assists.
The Panthers are back atop the IAAM mountain and it was a climb Sunday, rallying from a 14-point deficit. In last year’s finals at Stevenson University, St. Frances was unable to an overcome a huge early deficit against Seton Keough, ending the Panthers’ six-year reign.
“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,” said Hutchen referring to the classic line from the late Jim Valvano’s speech. “It kept playing over and over again in my mind. You got to want it.”
It was the veteran experience of St. Frances’ “3-H Club” of Hawkes, Hutchens and Deanna Harmon that pushed St. Frances. The trio accounted for 30 of the Panthers’ 37 second half points, but their future also provided a major lift.
Sophomore center Jonelle Britt contributed five rebounds and a blocked shot to an inspired defensive and rebounding clinic over the last 16 minutes of regulation. Britt’s rebound and basket off a miss by Hutchen gave St. Frances its first lead since the opening quarter at 44-42 in the fourth quarter.
Harmon fed Hawkes for a basket, giving St. Frances a 50-48 advantage midway in the fourth A free throw by Chelsea Dukes and two each from Hutchen and Hawkes, made it 55-48 with under 30 seconds left in the game.
“You could tell they were sending two to three bodies after me and our weakside rebounding wasn’t there in the first half,” said Hutchen who commended the efforts of junior Morgan Hodges and senior Tionne Evans.
The Cavaliers were the aggressors at the start, limiting St. Frances’s transition opportunities. The Severn school led 29-15 after two free throws by Morrison midway in the first half.
Spalding had five turnovers in its first six possessions in the second half, and its hold began slipping away. The Cavaliers’ lead dwindled to 42-40 after three quarters.
After St. Frances gained its final lead in the fourth, Spalding wasn’t able to respond, turning the ball over. The Cavaliers came up empty after four attempts on their next possession followed by a traveling call.
By the time Curtis scored on a layup, Spalding had gone more than four minutes without a basket. Cavaliers coach Bookie Rosemond said his team’s lack of big-game experience caught up to them.
“Hawkes hit a couple of three’s in the third quarter that gave them momentum and if there’s a ball coming off the glass, Hutchens is going to get it,” said Rosemond, who doesn’t have a senior on his roster. “It’s no secret what you got to do to beat them, but it’s easier said than done.”
It was accomplished last year, leaving St. Frances stunned. A few weeks ago, Panthers coach Jerome Shelton talked about how his team became complacent and wasn’t able to respond.
They answered the call Sunday.
“We just needed to play the best game we can play; play through our struggles, play through the adversity we’re going to get,” said Shelton. “We decided to be difference makers in every area.”
“I can’t express the emotions I was feeling,” said Hutchens about welling up on the foul line. “February 15, 2009 has been on my mind until today. Now, it’s gone.”
