Catonsville, MD – The Dragons were able to pull out a gritty road win over neighboring CCBC Catonsville in a 64-50 victory as Howard improves to 4-3 in the region as they try to secure a playoff spot.
Howard started out shooting cold as they were held scoreless for the first five minutes before a
Mikiyah Mallett (Pasadena, MD/Old Mill) layup got Howard on the scoreboard. Trailing 12-6 at the end of the first quarter, the Dragons found their groove in the second period as they worked the ball through the paint frequently to draw lots of free throw opportunities. The Dragons earned their first lead of the game at 16-14 when
Kalani Corkeron (Columbia, MD/Wilde Lake) drained a three pointer.
After another Cardinals run to build up a five point lead, the Dragons scored the last six points of the half with
Julia Harrington (Baltimore, MD/Baltimore City College) scoring four of them to give Howard a 24-23 halftime lead. The Dragons extended it to a 12-0 lead as they scored the first three baskets in the third quarter as Mallett and
Sydnei Harmon (Largo, MD/Charles H. Flowers) continued to assert their will in the paint.
With the big Howard forwards demanding so much attention in the post, chances opened up for Smith as she hit back-to-back shots late in the third quarter including a long range three pointer to make it an 11 points Dragons lead going into the fourth quarter. Catonsville cut the Howard lead down to four as Howard couldn't buy a shot, but once again it was Mallett and Smith who stepped up combined with a big three-point play by Harrington to ice the game.
Smith finished the game with a game high 22 points along with five rebounds and five assists. Mallett scored 20 points with six rebounds and Harrington added 10 points and eight rebounds. Harmon scored nine as the five Dragon starters accounted for all 64 points in the game. The Dragons scored 22 points from the charity stripe as they shot 75% from the free throw line.
The Dragons will have another big regional match on Saturday, February 18 when they travel to the Potomac State Catamounts at 12 PM. The two teams met in the season opener in a game that Potomac State had to forfeit.
