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.
Catholic 59. Indian Creek, 56
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.
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. Madison Liggett had 6 points for Catholic and Maddie Evans had 6 for Indian Creek. Catholic pushed their lead to 32-21 at halftime behind two 3 pointers by Meghan Brandt and one by senior guard Nielah Jones.
The third quarter saw Indian Creek make their move as Maddie Evans did damage with help from senior center Delaney Dignam. 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 Kate Wolz 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.
Freshman guard Sanai James 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.
St. Paul’s 57, Mt. De Sales 48
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 Destiny Ryles 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 Kristen Zaranski’s scoring but St. Paul’s weathered the storm behind big shots by junior guard Alex Sawyer and senior Devin Conrad.
Conrad finished with 18 points and Zaranski led Mt. De Sales with 20 points.
St. Frances 33, Roland Park 29
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 juniorAngel Reese. 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.
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 Ja’Niah Henson of Roland Park with 12 points. This was the fourth straight championship for St. Frances and their 12th overall. 
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Ja’Niah Henson, Roland Park. The senior guard led all scorers with 12 points
Mir Mclean, Roland Park. She scored 7 points, had a couple of blocks and crashed the boards.
Angel Reese, St. Frances. She finished with 8 points before fouling out. She was a presence inside all game.
Madyson Hinton, 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.
Aniya Gourdine, 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.
Savawn Hughes, St. Frances. The senior guard scored 7 points and set the tone defensively for the Panthers.
Devin Conrad, 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.
Destiny Ryles, St. Paul’s. The flashy junior point guard led the team in scoring with 21 points.
Alex Sawyer, St. Paul’s. A solid performance with 9 points including a big rally killing basket for the junior guard.
Kristen Zaranski, 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.
Megan Bunker, Indian Creek. 15 points for the sophomore guard in an all around good game.
Maddie Evans, 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.
Delaney Dignam, 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.
Sanai James, 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.
Nielah Jones, Catholic. The senior point guard provided leadership and 10 points.
Madison Liggett, Catholic. She scored 18 points to lead the team and made a bucket whenever the team needed her. She is a junior.
Meghan Brandt, Catholic. The junior guard scored 9 points, all on threes.