Bowie girls knock off Eleanor Roosevelt; Potomac School boys top St. Andrew’s

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/bowie-girls-knock-off-e-roosevelt-potomac-school-boys-top-st-andrews/2016/01/15/ec172786-bc05-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html

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Eleanor Roosevelt standout Octavia Wilson scored a season-high 34 points, but it wasn’t good enough to keep host Bowie from handing the defending Maryland 4A state champion Raiders a 55-52 loss, their first league defeat since 2012.

Wilson’s most important bucket came at the final buzzer of regulation, when she converted a putback to send Friday’s game into overtime. It was a fitting moment for the junior guard, who finished the night as Roosevelt’s only player in double figures.

But Bowie (6-6, 4-2 Prince George’s 4A) was up to the task, getting clutch buckets and free throws from senior guard Alexis Gordan down the stretch. Gordan had a hard time finishing in the first half, prompting Coach Chris Ferguson to threaten taking her out if she didn’t step up after halftime. She ended up with a team-high 19 points.

“She just took us home in that fourth quarter and overtime,” Ferguson said.

Bowie’s win marked its first triumph over Roosevelt (6-4, 4-1) in their past nine meetings.

“We say ‘Compete’ every time we come out of the huddle,” Ferguson said. “That’s exactly what we did tonight.”

Potomac School entered Friday’s game with anything but momentum, having dropped back-to-back outings by double digits. But that didn’t stop the Panthers from storming to a 31-18 halftime lead and grabbing a key conference victory over second-place St. Andrew’s at home in McLean.

Grant Robinson led the Panthers (6-6, 1-1 MAC) with a season-high 32 points, his production coming from relentless drives at senior center George Muresan and the rest of the St. Andrew’s paint dwellers.

“He was going at their bigs, and he just kept attacking,” Potomac School Coach Levi Franklin said.

Robinson and company held St. Andrew’s (9-5, 2-1) to its lowest point total since a 60-35 loss against St. Raymond (N.Y.) on Dec. 13. The result was a key win for an improving squad that started the season 1-3.

“I told them, ‘This season is not a sprint; it’s a marathon,” Franklin said. “We had to learn how to finish things off and just play. Tonight it kind of came together for us.”