High School

Glenelg Country shocks St. Frances as MIAA playoffs get underway

Pat Curtain lifts Dragons with last-second hoop; Mount St. Joseph, Mount Carmel and Archbishop Spalding also win quarterfinal games; St. Paul’s and Gerstell Academy advance in the B Conference

Gary Adornato

St. Frances’ reign as the MIAA A Conference basketball champion came to an end Tuesday evening, as the Panthers were stunned on their home court by Glenelg Country, 63-62, in the quarterfinal round of the A Conference playoffs.

In a tight contest, the visiting Panthers got a game-winning basket from junior Pat Curtin in the closing seconds of the contest to advance to Thursday’s semifinals against Mount St. Joseph, which pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat visiting Loyola Blakefield, 67-53, in Irvington.

Glenelg Country's Pat Curtain extended what has been an outstanding junior season with a game-winning basket in the final seconds of Tuesday's MIAA A Conference quarterfinal playoff game against defending champion St. Frances.
Glenelg Country's Pat Curtain extended what has been an outstanding junior season with a game-winning basket in the final seconds of Tuesday's MIAA A Conference quarterfinal playoff game against defending champion St. Frances

Senior Jordan Brathwaite led the Gaels with 28 points and 15 rebounds, while adding three assists and a block. DJ Wingfield added 13 points for St. Joe.

Tuesday’s other quarterfinal winners in the A Conference were Archbishop Spalding, which defeated Calvert Hall, 69-51, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel topped visiting John Carroll, 65-60. The Cavaliers and Cougars will meet in Thursday’s other semifinal in Essex.

Leading by four points at the half, Spalding outscored Calvert Hall 15-7 in the third quarter to begin the Cavaliers surge to victory. Malik Washington paced Spalding with 19 points.

Thursday’s winners will meet for the league title on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. at UMBC.

MIAA Basketball Playoff Brackets; 2024 A, B and C Conference playoffs set

Two quarterfinal playoff games also took place on Tuesday in the MIAA B Conference as St. Paul’s routed Annapolis Area Christian, 62-32, in Brooklandville and Gerstell Academy went on the road and defeated Archbishop Curley, 54-45. Division winners Severn and Concordia Prep had byes on Tuesday.

St. Paul’s will now travel to Severn on Thursday in one semifinal match-up while Gerstell will visit Concordia Prep for the other. Thursday’s winners will advance to the Saturday’s B Conference championship game at UMBC, which will tip off at 4:00 p.m.

The MIAA C Conference playoffs include just four teams and the tournament will begin in the semifinal round, on Thursday, as Park visits top-seeded Beth Tfiloh and Cristo Rey will travel to Easton to face second-seeded Saints Peter & Paul. The winners advance to the championship game on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., also at UMBC.

Published
Gary Adornato
GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University, and in 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.

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