***Click HERE for video highlights from the 4A state semi-final game***
***Click HERE for an additional photo gallery from the 4A state semi-final game***
Story by: James A. McCray III
Videos and photos provided by:
Aaron Gray, Andy States, and C.J. Malinowski
When Eleanor Roosevelt Lady Raiders basketball player Elashier Hall walked into the post-game press conference after Thursday’s 4A state semifinal victory over the Arundel Lady Wildcats, the senior quickly yelled, “I got the outside,” as in the outside seat at the head table.
Roosevelt head coach Rod Hairston quickly interjected, “It’s a superstitious thing.”
And the proof was in Hairston’s wardrobe as the head coach of the four-time defending state champion Lady Raiders changed his shirt at the halftime after witnessing a dismal first half.
In the opening half, Roosevelt went without a field goal in the first quarter, shot only 12 percent from the field in the half, and went into the halftime down 23-16.
“Actually, I did change my shirt,” the coach admitted. “We are kind of superstitious. … Coming into the second half I said it was the shirt. … We’ve never gone without a field goal in the first quarter.”
The shirt changed at the halftime, and so did the defense as the Lady Raiders held the Lady Wildcats to only four third-quarter points and scored 17 in the quarter as the Lady Raiders went on to a 47-43 victory.
“We picked up the intensity and started playing more man-to-man [defense],” Hairston said on the real change at the half.
“We just didn’t want to go home,” Hall said. “We [have] to make history, we’re not going home. This is our senior class. We helped all of the other senior classes get it done; now it is our turn to get it done.”
Although Hall led Roosevelt with a team-high 13 points in the victory, it was the six points of junior guard Keiona Revis in the third quarter that proved to be the most important to the Lady Raiders.
Revis came off of the bench to hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 25, and only seconds later splashed the net on another three pointer to give Roosevelt its first lead of the game, 30-27 with 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in the third period.
“It was at the right moment, the right time,” Hairston said of Revis’ two three-pointers. “Every year that we have played in the championship game, we have had a sixth man or underclassman step up and do something big. … This year it was Keiona.”
Even as the Lady Raiders grabbed the lead, Arundel junior guard Talen Watson –game-high 16 points– sparked a 7-0 scoring run with back-to-back baskets early in the fourth quarter as Arundel cut Roosevelt’s lead to 35-34.
“They are a good team, but we are a good team, too,” Watson said. ” … And I just tried to facilitate the team, and we tried the best that we could. We just have to get ourselves together and work on getting loose balls and rebounds, and that is something we are going to have to work on in the off season.”
Watson would hit a mid-range jumper moments later to give the Lady Wildcats the lead, 38-37, with 4:30 remaining in the game to seemingly swing the momentum back into the favor of Arundel.
Even still, Roosevelt senior Noel Bullock immediately came down court to hit a three-pointer and give the lead back to the Lady Raiders, 40-38, a lead Roosevelt would hold on to for the remainder of the contest.
“I just had in my head that, ‘You can’t let the team down,'” Bullock said. ‘”Your team needs you now more than anything.’ … I just let it go and it went in.”
“That’s big-shot Bullock,” Hairston added.
Arundel’s tall and athletic combo of senior center Simone Egwu and junior 6-foot-5-inch forward Sheronne Vails caused much trouble down low for the Raiders and made it hard for points in the paint to be scored.
However, with 3:57 remaining in the game Vails fouled out of the and the Raiders found much success in the middle of the lane for the remainder.
“Simone and Sheronne are very good,” Roosevelt senior Olivia Applewhite said, “and they are tall. I have played against a lot of big players without a lot of skill, but with them two being big and good that was a big challenge.”
Arundel finishes the season with 22 wins and 5 losses, but will return Watson and Vails next season which should bode well for the Lady Wildcats.
“All we can do, for me and Sheronne, is prepare for next year and hope that we can get better,” Watson said.
For the Lady Raiders, the opportunity to win a record fifth consecutive title will present itself Saturday at 3 p.m. against Blake High School.
And for coach Hairston, sticking to cotton shirts –his fabric of choice for the second half of the semi-final game– just may be the record-setting choice.
“Yeah, the linen shirt in the first half was too casual for me,” he said.
And as far as the second half choice of wardrobe, he added: “It was more business-like.”
E-mail: James A. McCray III
Eleanor Roosevelt 47, Arundel 43
Arundel — 13 10 4 16; Watson 16, E. Jones 13, Egwu 6, Vails 4, McKellery 4
Roosevelt — 2 14 17 14; E. Hall 13, Bullock 7, Revis 6, Mustaf 6, Gibbs 5, Applewhite 5, A. Hall 3, Chicbu 2
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