COLLEGE PARK — Southern and its community have adorned shirts reading “Road to Redemption” all season. That tour has one final stop off Route 1 in College Park on Saturday.
The Rams came up short in the Class 1A state championship game last year, as they watched Pikesville celebrate its fourth consecutive title after the final whistle.
Top-seeded Southern (24-2) hopes to avenge that defeat when it faces third-seeded Pikesville (24-3) in the final today at noon at the University of Maryland.
“Playing them last year familiarizes us with them to an extent,” Southern head coach Landon Todd said. “We have certainly done our fair share of scouting throughout the season, knowing this day very well could come. I’m sure they’ve been the same way.
“Coming into that game last year with no seniors, I’m sure they knew this day could come as well. I would fully expect for both teams to come prepared.”
How they got here
Southern has won nine straight, all by double digits, including a 60-37 trouncing of Smithsburg in the state semifinals on Tuesday at Allegany College.
The Rams routed Snow Hill, 70-23, in the state quarters and Allegany, 67-28, in the West Region I championship game.
All 26 games on Southern’s schedule have been against teams with a .500 record or better.
Southern was the top-ranked team in the final regular-season area poll.
Pikesville is the No. 4-ranked squad in the Baltimore Sun poll, which includes public and private schools in the Baltimore region. The Panthers are second among public schools.
Pikesville took down Forest Park, 59-33, in its semifinal game, opting to shy away from its usual hectic full-court pressure and force the Foresters to play a half-court game.
The strategy worked to perfection, allowing the Panthers to knock out Forest Park in the Final Four for the second straight season.
Title tiebreaker
Both teams have won four state championships.
Southern won it all in ‘04, ‘07, ‘14 and ‘18 and has a 4-6 record in the championship games, including last season’s 48-39 defeat to Pikesville in the title game.
Pikesville has only been to the championship game four times and has won all four in ‘19, ‘22, ‘23 and ‘24.
The Panthers were in the Final Four in 2020, along with Southern, when the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no 2021 season for the same reason.
“It’s anxiety big time,” Pikesville head coach Michael Dukes said to the Baltimore Sun of advancing to a fifth straight championship game. “It’s like the past few years I’ve been feeling that way, but I’d rather feel that way than to be sitting home right now. It’s exciting.
“When we took this program over we thought we could be successful, but nothing like this.”
Dukes has a 158-25 record in seven seasons as head coach.
Players to watch
Southern graduated no seniors from last year’s squad and is led in scoring by senior Carly Wilt, who averages 12.6 points per game and has a team-high 45 3s.
Sophomore Jayden Weaver adds 11.3 points and 3.2 assists a night, and junior Emelee Parks averages 8.7 ppg and 3.5 apg.
Wilt topped Southern with 17 points and nine rebounds in last year’s game against Pikesville, and Parks had 11 points.
The Rams also have a collection of complementary scorers in Joycelyn Ward (7.5 ppg), Gabbi Berry (6.5 ppg) and Kelsey Ward (5.7 ppg), among others.
Sophomore guard Abi Teets is also playing with confidence, scoring a career-high 16 against Smithsburg.
“We lost to them last year, and we want revenge on them,” Teets said. “I think we just want to run the heck out of them. … We just have to play defense and dog them on defense.”
Pikesville is again paced by junior point guard Mariah Jones-Bey, who posts averages of 12.4 points, 7.2 steals and 4.6 assists a contest.
Sophomore Ka’Nail Pyatt (12.0 ppg) and junior NyJae Malik-El (11.1) also average double figures for the Panthers.
The trio is actively being recruited by Division 1 and 2 colleges.
Keys to the game
Rebounding and taking care of the basketball will be Southern’s keys to victory on Saturday.
The Panthers average 17.3 offensive rebounds and 22.8 steals per game.
Pikesville shoots a lower percentage from the field (43-39%) and free-throw line (66-51%), relying heavily on extra possessions.
“We have to rebound as well as we did (against Smithsburg),” Todd said. “We have to box out, keep them off the boards. We have to make them play our style of game. We can’t let them slow it down, be methodical on offense, look to turn us over on defense.
“We’ve got to make sure we take care of the ball on offense and make sure they don’t get easy layups on the other end. We’ve got to make them earn every point. We cannot afford to give them second-chance points.”