Huntingtown girls, Thomas Stone boys fall in state quarterfinals

While the North Point High girls basketball and St. Charles High boys basketball teams advanced to their respective state semifinals, both the Huntingtown girls and Thomas Stone boys saw their seasons come to an end last weekend in the state quarterfinals.

Huntingtown (15-10), which had earned the program’s first regional title last Wednesday with a 56-47 victory over fellow Southern Maryland Athletic Conference rival McDonough, proved no match for Wicomico High School on Saturday afternoon as the Hurricanes were upended by the host Indians 58-29. Huntingtown trailed 31-17 at the intermission and never seriously threatened in the second half.

“Our goal all season was to finally be able to hang a banner for the girls’ basketball program,” said junior Kayla Ripple, referring to a vacant upper right-hand corner of the gymnasium wall which will soon don a regional banner. “We played with a lot of intensity all season. We really became better teammates and our coach [Lewis Payne] really pushed us all season.”

One night earlier Thomas Stone boys team (17-10) saw its bid for a 2A state title come to a halt when the Cougars were upended by host Largo High 79-57. Stone had earned the 2A South Region title with a handy 57-41 victory at McDonough three days earlier, but the Cougars fell behind early against their Prince George’s County rival and never threatened in the second half.

“My teams have won a lot of region titles, but this team was special,” longtime Stone boys basketball coach Dale Lamberth said. “Everyone knows Ty [Woodland] and Jonas [Agyeman] and Kaden [Jackson], but we had seven players on this team that were completely new to varsity. They just worked hard and continued to grow all season and I was especially proud of this group for what they accomplished.”