IAAM Championship Sunday 2019- Who Did What.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif">A couple of thousand fans packed the arena at Stevenson University for the IAAM Championship games on Sunday, February 17th. Here is a look back at who took home titles and the top performers. </span> &nbsp; <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><strong>Catholic 59. Indian Creek, 56</strong></span></span> &nbsp; <div id="yiv2875880102yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1550331886771_30279" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">The Indian Creek Eagles came into championship Sunday with a 10-0 conference record, (16-3 overall) including a convincing 26 point win over Catholic earlier in the season. The Cubs came in with an 8-2 record (11-9) and a chip on their shoulder. Both schools were looking to add their second championship banner in their school's history. </span></div> <div id="yiv2875880102yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1550331886771_30279" dir="ltr"></div> <div id="yiv2875880102yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1550331886771_30279" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">Catholic drew first blood with a 8-0 run to start that forced Indian Creek into a time out. The Eagles responded with 4 straight of their own and that was a sign of things to come. The first quarter ended with Catholic leading 14-11. <strong>Madison Liggett</strong> had 6 points for Catholic and <strong>Maddie Evans</strong> had 6 for Indian Creek. Catholic pushed their lead to 32-21 at halftime behind two 3 pointers by <strong>Meghan Brandt</strong> and one by senior guard <strong>Nielah Jones</strong>. </span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">The third quarter saw Indian Creek make their move as Maddie Evans did damage with help from senior center <strong>Delaney Dignam</strong>. This set us up for a wild and crazy finish. Indian Creek slowly chipped away the lead by forcing turnovers and eventually took their first lead at 48-45 with 3:01 to go. This came on a 3 point play by Maddie Evans. Both teams took turns missing shots and turning the ball over until 44.8 seconds were left. Senior guard <strong>Kate Wolz</strong> stepped to the line and calmly sank three  straight free throws after being fouled shooting a long jumper. Nielah Jones and Maddie Evans each hit a free throw before the game eventually went into overtime. </span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">Freshman guard <strong>Sanai James</strong> made a clutch, driving lay up and Walz added a late bucket to seal the win for the Cubs, 59-56 in the most thrilling game of the day. </span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>St. Paul's 57, Mt. De Sales 48</strong></span></span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">Two more well coached teams took the floor for the B conference championship game. In their regular season meeting Mt. De Sales came out on top 62-48. That did not matter. Junior point guard <strong>Destiny Ryles</strong> scored a game high 21 points and St. Paul's used their speed on defense to stifle the Sailors while holding them to two first half field goals. Mount was able to stay within reach by making free throws in arguably their worst game of the season. They made a run in the second half behind senior <strong>Kristen Zaranski's</strong> scoring but St. Paul's weathered the storm behind big shots by junior guard <strong>Alex Sawyer</strong> and senior <strong>Devin Conrad</strong>.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">Conrad finished with 18 points and Zaranski led Mt. De Sales with 20 points.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>St. Frances 33, Roland Park 29</strong></span></span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">The A conference game was a stinker. There is no other way to describe it so I won't try. The game was loaded with talent on both sides but sometimes these things happen. St. Frances jumped out to a 10-0 lead behind 5 points from junior <strong>Angel Reese</strong>. They led 10-2 after one quarter. Roland Park showed up in the second quarter and matched St. Frances with 8 points to trail 18-10 at halftime.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">Things did not get much better in the second half. Roland Park made a modest run to cut the lead to 29-27 with 1:27 left in the game, but turned the ball over on five straight possessions. The only player to reach double figures in the game was <strong>Ja'Niah Henson</strong> of Roland Park with 12 points. This was the fourth straight championship for St. Frances and their 12th overall. </span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM</span></span></strong></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Ja'Niah Henson</strong>, Roland Park. The senior guard led all scorers with 12 points</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Mir Mclean</strong>, Roland Park. She scored 7 points, had a couple of blocks and crashed the boards.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Angel Reese</strong>, St. Frances. She finished with 8 points before fouling out. She was a presence inside all game.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Madyson Hinton</strong>, St. Frances. The unsung hero.The junior power forward made  the move of the game with drop step, spin and lay up. She grabbed rebounds and loose balls and made key steals while playing solid defense.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Aniya Gourdine</strong>, St. Frances. She led the team in scoring with 9 points and made clutch foul shots to close the game out. She is a sophomore.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Savawn Hughes</strong>, St. Frances. The senior guard scored 7 points and set the tone defensively for the Panthers.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Devin Conrad</strong>, St. Paul's. 20 points and several big plays will get you on the team every time. Great way for a senior to close out her career.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Destiny Ryles</strong>, St. Paul's. The flashy junior point guard led the team in scoring with 21 points.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Alex Sawyer</strong>, St. Paul's. A solid performance with 9 points including a big rally killing basket for the junior guard.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Kristen Zaranski</strong>, Mt. De Sales. In one of her worst games the senior scoring machine ended up with 20 points. The kid can score and I hope she gets a chance to play in college.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Megan Bunker</strong>, Indian Creek. 15 points for the sophomore guard in an all around good game.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Maddie Evans</strong>, Indian Creek. The senior guard went out in a big way with 26 points. She did this with no 3 point field goals on the day. Very impressive scoring guard.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Delaney Dignam</strong>, Indian Creek. I really enjoyed watching her move bodies around in this game. She scored 8 points and gave the Eagles a real presence inside. They struggled after the senior post player fouled out.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Sanai James</strong>, Catholic. The freshman guard made the most of her minutes off the bench. Her bucket in overtime was the biggest of the game. Strong and athletic, she made plenty of hustle plays.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Nielah Jones,</strong> Catholic. The senior point guard provided leadership and 10 points.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Madison Liggett</strong>, Catholic. She scored 18 points to lead the team and made a bucket whenever the team needed her. She is a junior.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 12pt"><strong>Meghan Brandt</strong>, Catholic. The junior guard scored 9 points, all on threes.</span></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div> <div dir="ltr"></div>