High School Sports: Laurel Prep Roundup

This has been a season of adjustments for the Laurel High boys basketball team. The most obvious was the arrival of Torrence Oxendine as the head coach, as he took over for former Laurel guard Antoine Gaither.

The Spartans also welcomed Carlos Horne, a transfer from Largo High. Another new face is guard Adrian Rousseau, who played as a freshman last year for KIMA, a charter school in Washington, D.C., that played some of its home games at the Laurel Boys and Girls Club. One of his best games this year for Laurel came in a win against Bowie as he made several open jump shots.

With the regular-season winding down the Spartans are 8-11 overall and 6-9 in the Prince George's County Class 4A league. Zane Carroll, a returning senior, had 12 points and Horne had nine as Laurel won, 53-38, on Tuesday against Northwestern.

The Laurel High girls fell to 6-12 overall and 4-10 in the league with a 60-55 loss on Tuesday to Northwestern. The Laurel girls played on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at DuVal in Lanham, with the boys game following between the two schools in the regular-season finale. The regional playoffs are slated to begin next week.

The Laurel girls lost, 53-40, at DuVal while the Laurel boys won, 59-54, also at DuVal.  

 Pallotti High teams win playoff games

 The St. Vincent Pallotti High girls basketball team won at home, 64-40, Tuesday over St. Frances in the first round of the IAAM playoffs in the A division. Senior guard Mariah Hankton had 20 points for Pallotti, Tiffany Padgett had 13 and Chizzy Ekedigwe added 11.

With the win Pallotti played  powerhouse Archbishop Spalding of Severn, the No. 1 seed.  Bur the Pallotti girls were eliminated from the IAAM playoffs with a 73-46 loss. 

"It seems that we have one bad quarter against them," said Pallotti coach Josh Pratt, whose team lost by about 20 points twice this season to Spalding.

"We are really playing well," Pratt added. "You are playing a team that has at least three Division I players. At the same time I think we have a chance. I think we are going to be competitive. We have to play with a sense of urgency." Pallotti is 14-10 overall and 8-7 in league games.

Hankton has signed with Division II Southern Connecticut while Ekedigwe is headed to Division I Seton Hall. Earlier this month Southern Connecticut head coach Meghan Brown and assistant Tammy Millsaps were at Pallotti in downtown Laurel to see Hankton play for the Panthers. "Mariah is just very natural. She instinctively knows when to pass and where to pass," Millsaps told Laurel Patch. "She is just a natural point guard. She is a great penatrator. She needs to work on her outside shot."

The Pallotti boys, also playing at home Tuesday, won, 47-45, in the first round of the MIAA B league playoffs over Gilman as Langston Burnett had 13 points and Aubrey Williams and Sebastian Opon had 12 each. The Panthers advanced to play Glenelg Country on Wednesday but lost, 74-53. Pallotti ended the season 17-14 overall under head coach Shae Johnson, who has won more than 100 games in five seasons at the school.

Pallotti ended regular-season play Friday with a 68-41 win over Boys' Latin in Baltimore in the Senior Night game for the home team. Pallotti got off to a strong start in the first quarter and had several layups to build a lead.

Pallotti football coach names staff

Ben Thompson, named the new Pallotti High football coach in January, has announced his staff. Thompson told Patch on Wednesday that his assistants will include Jeff Warren (offensive coordinator), Jeff Cave (offensive line), Darryl Johnson (running backs), Scott Gasper (wide receivers), Jay Brown (inside linebackers), Pat Courtemanche (defensive line), Joe Walker (outside linebackers) and Chad McFarland (defensive backs).

Thompson said he has offered the head junior varsity spot to a local youth coach but as of Wednesday had not heard if he will take the job. Courtemanche was the Pallotti head coach for five years before stepping down after last season. He played in high school at Good Counsel with Thompson, who played as a senior at Pallotti.

Warren is a graduate of Pallotti and is a former coach at Northeast High in Anne Arundel County. Cave was on the staff with Thompson at Old Mill High in Millersville. Johnson was on the staff with Thompson at Cardinal Gibbons. Gasper is a former coach at Knoxville Catholic in Tennessee and played with Courtemanche in college. Brown was on the staff with Thompson at Old Mill and Mt. St. Joe's. Walker played in college in Alabama and McFarland is a former assistant at North County High.

Laurel High swimming takes third

The boys and girls teams at Laurel High were both third on Saturday in the Prince George's championships at Fairland Aquatic Center in West Laurel. The Roosevelt boys and girls both won titles and Bowie was second in both boys and girls.

Laurel's Jade Hill won the title in the girls 100-yard butterfly in 1:06.37. Will Hoover of the Laurel boys was third in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.06. Laurel's Ryan Pauling was second in the 100-yard breaststroke and teammate Cameron Ott was second in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard butterfly.

Laurel's Jackson aids Bowie State over UDC

The Bowie State women's basketball team was 16-8 overall and 11-5 in the CIAA in games through Wednesday. Senior guard Brittney Jackson, a Laurel High grad, started the first 24 games and led the team in minutes per game and was averaging more than eight points per contest.

She had seven points and two assists on Wednesday as the Bulldogs won at home against UDC, 68-55.  Bowie State has won nine of its last 10 after losing four in a row in January. "We are starting to play better defense," Jackson, who made two of 11 shots from the field against UDC, said after Wednesday's game in Bowie.

Freshman forward Jonathan Arledge, a product of the Laurel Boys and Girls Club, played one minute for George Mason in a 71-51 win at VCU on Tuesday. Mason won a school-record 12th game in a row and appears to be a lock for the NCAA tournament from the Colonial Athletic Association. Mason owns the longest winning streak in the nation among Division I men's teams.

UNC-Wilmington, another CAA team, came back from 22 points down to win in overtime on Saturday at Towson, 95-93. Laurel's Shane Reybold, who went to Reservoir High in Howard County, had two rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench for the winners.

The Hampton men's team also has hopes for a bid in the NCAA field but needs to win the MEAC title. The Pirates roster includes Laurel High grads Chris Tolson and Milade Lola-Charles. Hampton was 19-6 overall and 9-3 in the MEAC in games through Tuesday. Tolson had played in 18 games off the bench and averaged 14.9 minutes and 3.7 points per contest. Lola-Charles had come off the bench in 22 games and averaged 7.0 minutes and 0.6 points per contest.

Laurel resident Leon Porter (Pallotti) started the first 25 games for Division II Dominican in New York and averaged 14.4 points per contest. The sophomore guard was the freshman of the year last season in his conference.