McDonogh kept stretching its leads with streaks in Thursday’s Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference semifinal against visiting Roland Park.

Despite watching the Eagles score the game’s first seven points and later take a double-digit lead in the second quarter, the Reds repeatedly fought back.

Roland Park sliced the lead to one a few different times, but the Eagles’ last streak proved too much. Aleah Nelson scored nine of her game-high 20 points during a 19-3 run which began late in the third quarter and stretched into the fourth as No. 2 McDonogh pulled away for a 63-49 victory over No. 4 Roland Park.

McDonogh (24-2) advanced to Sunday’s championship game against No. 1 St. Frances at Stevenson. The Panthers topped No. 9 Seton Keough, 62-45, in the other semifinal Thursday night. McDonogh now has reached six straight conference finals with its most recent win coming in 2015.

This also was the Eagles’ third victory of the season over Roland Park (18-7) in as many meetings. The Reds hung around the whole game, cutting their deficit to two in the first quarter, one in the second and one twice in the third. But McDonogh kept turning things around.

“I was really proud of how our kids responded each time,” McDonogh coach Brad Rees said. “[Roland Park] kept coming and coming and coming.”

When the Reds cut the lead to 12-10 with 20 seconds left in the first quarter, Nelson answered with a three-point play with 1.1 seconds to go. That began a nine-point run, but Roland Park went on a 10-1 run of its own later in the quarter to make it 24-23 with just over a minute left.

Kayla Liles (11 points) helped McDonogh bounce back with two baskets in the final minute of the half for a 28-23 edge at the break. Then, in the third quarter, Ja’Niah Henson (13 points) made two free throws as Roland Park cut the lead to 32-31 midway through the period.

A little later, Mir McLean (16 points) made two free throws, and Henson hit a layup that made it 36-35 with 2:18 left in the quarter.

That’s when everything changed.

Nelson made consecutive 3-pointers followed by a layup by Jessica Booth (12 points) with five seconds left in the quarter for a 44-35 lead heading into the fourth.

“We played very hard, and I think we put ourselves into a good position [there],” Roland Park coach Scott Buckley said. “But they made a couple of [shots], and we went from down two to down [nine].”

The Eagles scored 11 of the first 14 points of the fourth quarter, topped by a 3-pointer by Nelson from the top of the key for a 55-38 lead with just under five minutes remaining.

“We knew they were going to keep coming back,” Nelson said. “Everyone really contributed and played hard. We just always had an answer. We just had that mentality that we were going to win.”

For Roland Park, Aniyah Carpenter added 13 points as the Reds played good defense, often using a 3-2 zone that pushed the Eagles away from the basket.

But McDonogh remained patient on offense and several times found passing lanes where it got layups or high-percentage shots. The Eagles also made six 3-pointers.