SCH sophomore Emily McNesby (left) drives past Evey Veguilla of Baldwin School. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

For opposing basketball teams, the primary obstacle presented by the Baldwin School Bears looms 6’4” above the floor and is named Danielle Hammond.

When Springside Chestnut Hill Academy played over at Baldwin on January 5, the Virginia Commonwealth University signee had a game-high 19 points, but saw her playing minutes curtailed by foul trouble. Receiving 15 points from senior guard Essence Walden and 10 from junior forward Chloe Burns, the SCH Blue Devils were able to beat the Bears, 47-39.

Last Friday, the Bryn Mawr ballplayers were able to achieve a split in the Inter-Ac League season series, topping their Chestnut Hill hosts, 55-45, as Hammond rang up a triple-double that featured 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 blocked shots.

“She was definitely better than in the first game,” commented new SCH head coach Matt Paul. “We kept trying to drive the ball at her, but she was too good for that to work. She ended up getting a lot of blocks.”

Either that, or the Blue Devils risked offensive fouls as they tried to go straight at the stationary Hammond.

In addition, the Bears’ Kejohna Hammond (no relation) upped her output from six points in the game at Baldwin to 15 last Friday, while another senior guard, Alex Brittingham, raised her production slightly, from 11 to 12 points. The two backcourt players will attend Drexel and Elon University, respectively, but do not plan on playing basketball.

SCH senior guard Lindsay Hiner, who will continue her hoops career at Gettysburg College, led the home team with 15 points, and the Blue Devils received nine points from freshman forward Caroline Clark, eight from Burns, and seven from sophomore guard Emily McNesby.

Adding two points apiece were Walden and two freshmen, guard Mo’ne Davis and forward Delaney Sweitzer.

The game was played on the birthday of SCH girls’ athletic director Tina O’Malley, and the outcome was certainly not the best gift she’d ever gotten from her daughter, second-year Baldwin head coach Danny Fraider.

It was the second Inter-Ac victory of the season for Fraider’s squad (5-11 overall), which had beaten Agnes Irwin earlier and faces the Owls again this Tuesday.

The Blue Devils (3-5, 7-9), who had already swept their series with Irwin, had the chance to clinch sole possession of at least fifth place in the league with a win last Friday. Now, unless either SCH or Baldwin can upset one of the top four teams in the Inter-Ac, the Devils and Bears will probably tie for that fifth spot.

With Hiner hooping a pair of three-pointers from opposite sides of the floor and with Burns bagging a baseline jumper, Springside Chestnut Hill led 8-4 midway through the first quarter last Friday. However, fouls by the home team helped the Bears rebound. Hollering male fans for the home team didn’t rattle Danny Hammond, who shot four-for-four at the free throw line, or Brittingham, who went two-for-two.

The visitors went up by four points, but two foul shots by Hiner at the very end of the first quarter had the hosts back within two, 12-10.

Kejohna Hammond, who had scored Baldwin’s first three field goals of the ball game during the opening period, added a three-pointer and two free throws in the second stanza to lead all scorers at the half, with 11 points.

Thanks to buckets by Hiner and Walden, the Blue Devils were only one point behind with two-and-a-half minutes elapsed in the second round, but after that Baldwin ran off 11 points in a row. While Danny Hammond scored twice from the paint and drew numerous fouls, Brittingham deposited a pair of three-pointers and a shorter jumper.

It could’ve been worse if Danny Hammond hadn’t lost her touch at the foul line. After making all four tosses in the first quarter, she hit only one of seven in the second. Still, the Bears outpointed the Blue Devils 18-7 in the second frame to enjoy a 30-17 advantage at the intermission.

“We've had some bad quarters over the last few games,” said SCH’s Paul, “and we tend to spiral down when things aren’t going well. We’re still searching for that go-to-person who can stop that from happening. I was happy to see the girls show a lot of heart and fight back in the second half.”

Things got worse before they got better, as back-to-back lay-ups by Danny Hammond and a 15-footer by fellow Bear Kejohna Hammond forced Paul to call time-out less than 90 seconds into the third quarter. SCH was now down by nearly 20 points, 36-17.

The Blue Devils came back on the court to finish out the quarter with a 14-5 countercharge, holding the visitors without a field goal for five minutes at one stage. Back-to-back baskets by Burns (a graduate of Norwood Fontbonne Academy) started it out, and the junior added a 12-foot jumper at the end. Clark and McNesby each added a field goal and Hiner canned her third “three” of the game.

Going into the fourth period with a more manageable 10-point deficit (41-31), SCH had McNesby score one lay-up off a steal and another off of a rebound. In between, though, the hosts had committed their seventh team foul of the half.

With four straight made free throws and a transition lay-up by Danny Hammond, the Bears steadied themselves, and they didn’t let the hosts get closer than eight points the rest of the way. Baldwin forward Kayla Watkins left the floor with her fifth personal, but both Sweitzer and Hiner would foul out for SCH.

“It was nice to at least make a run at them, get some turnovers and some easy baskets and get a little momentum going,” said Paul, whose team must now finish out the league schedule against the top four schools. “We have our work cut out for us the rest of the way, but our goal is to just keep getting better every day.”