UPDATE: Lady Trojans are State Champions

UPDATE: The 2011 Gaithersburg Lady Trojans are your Maryland girls basketball champions, defeating Henry A. Wise of Prince George's County 58-38 Saturday afternoon at the University of Maryland Baltimore County's RAC Arena.

The Lady Trojans completed an undefeated season and brought home Gaithersburg High School's first girls basketball state championship in the school's history.

"The first girls title is a true blessing," Gaithersburg head coach Adrian McDaniel said. "I'm so proud of these girls. They worked hard all year long."

"It means a lot to us just because a lot of people didn't think we could do it and we did," senior Sarah Seipp said. "Our hard work paid off."

The state final played out quite similarly to Thursday's semi-final game against North Point High School. The game remained relatively close throughout the first three quarters. Gaithersburg's defense was as good as it's been all season as it managed to hold Wise to single digits in the first two quarters.

But the Trojans continued to miss a lot of its shots. Seipp and senior Kara Marshall, normally prolific from outside, collectively missed all nine of their 3-point shots in the first half. Together the Trojans shot just eight of 27 from the field in the first half.

Junior guard Eliqua Brooks led Wise, and she was a constant thorn in Gaithersburg's side. Brooks carried the Pumas, scoring 22 of their points. Her shooting technique is excellent, and she scored four 3-pointers, which were, at times, the only thing keeping the score close.

"Eliqua's a scorer. That's what she does," Wise head coach Walter Clark said. "I like the way she spotted up and took her looks."

The Pumas made a run in the third quarter that cut Gaithersburg's lead to eight. Sophomore Deja Rollins then began a momentum shift in Gaithersburg's favor with a buzzer-beating jumper at the end of the third quarter.

From there, the Trojans tore it wide open in the fourth quarter, going on a 20-point shooting spree while holding Wise to just eight points. Kara Marshall made her first 3-pointer, senior Paulessha Wood came off the bench and made two nice layups, and Rollins produced five more points, including a 3-pointer, and five rebounds.

"Deja stepped up big time," McDaniel said. "She had some big-time shots, she had some big-time defensive stops. For a sophomore to come in and step up, you know, she got a little stage fright last year as a freshman, but this year she knew what it meant. She stepped up and did a great job."

The fourth-quarter turnaround was almost a mirror-image of what happened in the semi-finals against North Point. In that game Gaithersburg's lead was cut to three after missed opportunities kept the Trojans off the scoreboard, before going on a spree in the fourth quarter.

"What we try to do is, even if we're in a slump, like when we were in a big shooting slump, we just try to stay mentally above them, and that's what gets us ahead in games," Kara Marshall said. "Because then eventually our offense will start clicking."

McDaniel's explanation for the fourth-quarter breakout is a familiar one.

"Our shots just weren't falling, we were rushing the ball," he said. "And then once we settled down and got our composure, we came back and do what we always do: just settle down and make our shots.

"[Gaithersburg] played really well," Clark said. "They never stopped pushing the ball. They pushed and pushed and pushed. We never could quite get the traps in, never quite get in the stops. Seemed like we were on our heels in the fourth quarter more than anything else. They kept us on our heels. More than anything else it was a testament to them, they kept us on our heels."

The Trojans also managed to correct a lack of rebounds they suffered on Thursday, and it was in this area that junior Jackie Jackson earned her place as the star player Saturday.

The 5-foot-10 forward was utterly dominant on the boards, snagging 14 of Gaithersburg's 52 rebounds. She also led the Trojans in points with 15.

"I guess I didn't really feel that anyone could stop me down low," junior Jackie Jackson said. "But that was when I got the ball down low. A lot of our play came from driving. Our guards did a lot of driving to the basket."

Wise didn't have an answer for Jackson, McDaniel said. "I mean Jackie is so quick and so athletic. We knew that coming into the game. We knew that if we get into transition offense, Jackie could run the floor, they didn't have a big person who could stay with her. She cleaned the boards."

The final highlight of the game came in the last minute of play. Seipp had taken a nasty fall after getting fouled while going to the basket and injured her wrist early in the fourth quarter. She reentered the game with a minute to go, her wrist taped up, and within seconds she scored her first and only 3-pointer of the game.

The normally stoic, focused senior ran down the court with a big smile on her face, and acknowledged a standing ovation from the Gaithersburg crowd.

"It felt great. I hadn't hit a single 3 and of course I hit it when my wrist hurts," Seipp said in the post-game press conference with ice on her wrist. "So it felt good to finally knock down a shot."

Many players said they had trouble putting how they felt about going undefeated to win the state championships into words. For now, McDaniel said, he is just going to enjoy being the school's first girls basketball coach to win a championship.

And he's obviously optimistic about next year with all of the talent he has coming back. Next year, he said, "it's not 'rebuild.' It's 'reload.'"

Original story: The 2011 Gaithersburg Lady Trojans are your Maryland girls basketball champions, defeating Henry A. Wise of Prince George's County 58-38.

The Lady Trojans completed an undefeated season and brought home Gaithersburg High School's first girls basketball state championship in the school's history.

The game remained relatively close throughout until the fourth quarter, when Gaithersburg blew it wide open with a 20-point scoring spree and held Wise to just eight points.

Junior Jackie Jackson was dominant on the boards, grabbing 14 rebounds, and led the Trojans in scoring with 15 points. Senior Sarah Seipp, who injured her wrist early in the fourth quarter, came back with one minute left in the game and made a 3-pointer to bring her total to 10 points.