With such a spectacular regular season coming to an end for the North Point Eagles basketball programs, high expectations were set by players and fans alike for another deep postseason run by each team. Last season, the Boys won the Maryland 4A State Championship, while the Lady Eagles fell one game short in the State Semifinal. With both teams boasting a conference championship, there was much to look forward to for the 2012 postseason.
The Lady Eagles started off the week with their playoff home opener against Old Mill High School on February 27. Holding the first seed in the 4A East Region, all of the Lady Eagles playoff games, barring a loss, would end up being at home. They made the most of the opportunity of playing for their fans, beginning the game with a 16-8 lead after the opening quarter. In the second quarter, North Point began to break away from the Lady Patriots with an 18-3 run for much of the quarter. While free throws were consistently missed by the Lady Eagles (only two were made in the first half), they ended the first half with a 40-14 lead.
In the second half, the motive of North Point was still the same; play great defense and capitalize off of turnovers. Old Mill could not operate normally on offense, and their defense was lacking as the Lady Eagles piled on 27 more points in the third to make it a 67-27 game. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, North Point had their backups in the game for valuable playoff experience. The Lady Patriots caught fire offensively, but by then it was too late to come close. The Lady Eagles walked away with a 77-42 victory at the end of the night.
On Tuesday, the Boys continued their own success in their matchup against conference foe Leonardtown High School. In two previous regular season matchups, the Eagles waltzed to victories against the Raiders, including a 35 point win in the very first meeting between the two. With an 8-14 record coming into the contest, much wasn’t expected from the opposing team, and early on, North Point made sure Leonardtown didn’t have a chance.
The game started with a high scoring first quarter, in which the Eagles scored 32 points to Leonardtown’s 19. In the second quarter, North Point tightened up defensively, giving up only eight points while utilizing their famous full-court press. Leonardtown struggled to move the ball efficiently, and did not make good of any of the shots that they were able to take. At the end of the second quarter, the Eagles had a commanding 54-27 lead.
In the third quarter, the Eagles still continued to score efficiently, posting 26 points through those eight minutes. Leonardtown slowly began to find their grove on the offensive side of the ball, but was still limited to 15 points. As it was in the girl’s game, the final period displayed the deep bench of the Eagles, who were well on their way to victory. When the buzzer sounded, the Eagles walked off the court with a convincing 94-64 win.
As of press time, both the Boys and the Girls were crowned 4A East Regional Champions on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Girls will be playing in the state semifinal game on Thursday, March 8th, against Dr. Henry Wise High School at UMBC’s RAC Arena. The Boys will be playing on the same day at 7pm against Eleanor Roosevelt High School at UMD-College Park’s Comcast Center.