COLLEGE PARK — Mariah Jones-Bey scored 15 of her game-high 21 points in the second half and NyJae Malik-El scored eight of her 19 points in the fourth quarter as Pikesville girls basketball held off Southern-Garrett, 67-62, to capture a state-record-tying fifth straight championship.

The Panthers (24-3) defeated the Rams (24-3) for the Class 1A title at the University of Maryland’s Xfinity Center for the second year in a row with a dominant performance at the free-throw line and on the offensive boards.

Jones-Bay was 9-for-9 from the line in the second half and the Panthers finished 24 for 37 overall compared with Southern’s 9-for-15 performance.

“We shot a lot of free throws the past two weeks,” Pikesville coach Michael Dukes said.

Said Jones-Bey: “Coach Kevin [Speaks] had to keep telling me to bend my knees and follow through and also take a deep breath and stay calm.”

Southern’s leading scorer, Carly Wilt (nine points), fouled out early in the fourth quarter and Jayden Weaver (nine points) fouled out as the Rams were trying to rally from a 10-point deficit.

“We had to go zone most of the second half to try to avoid the foul trouble issue and we get into a 10-point deficit and you’ve got to go [man-to-man defense] to fight back and Carly fouls out early in the fourth quarter and Jayden fouls out when we are going on our run,” Southern coach Landon Todd said. “It was just deflating just when you go on that run and you are ready to turn the corner and you lose two starters. That’s tough.”

Although the Panthers only outrebounded the Rams 38-31 overall, they held a 17-8 advantage on the offensive boards. Malik-El had five offensive rebounds and Jones-Bey had four.

“In the second half we couldn’t rebound, first half we put ourselves in a deficit because we had 15 turnovers, second half we continued to put ourselves in a deficit because we couldn’t rebound on the defensive end,” Todd said. “It’s a huge credit to Pikesville. It’s not an accident when you win five state championships in a row.”

Pikesville took its largest lead, 54-44, on a free throw by Ka’nai Pyatt (11 points, seven rebounds) with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter, but a 3-pointer by Joycelyn Ward and a basket by Weaver cut the deficit to five with 3:50 remaining.

Two free throws by Southern’s Gabbi Berry made it 60-56 with 1:53 remaining, but Pyatt answered with a short jumper and Jones-Bay bumped the lead to eight 17 seconds later.

Southern refused to wilt. Back-to-back baskets by Emelee Parks made it 64-60 with 42 seconds left, but a free throw by Pyatt and two by Jones-Bey salted the game away.

Early in the game, it was the Panthers who got into foul trouble and they trailed 15-12 after one quarter, but the dangerous defensive duo of Jones-Bey and Malik-El adjusted their games.

“I had to stop reaching,” Jones-Bey said. “My teammates were also keeping my head together and telling me to stop reaching, but keeping my energy up though, so I was able to stay in the game until the end.”

Jones-Bey finished with four steals and Malik-El had seven.

“I just played calm,” Malik-El said. “I learned that they like to push the ball in front of them, so if I was going to reach they didn’t have their hands on the ball.”

In addition to Malik-El, Jones-Bey and Pyatt, the Panthers got contributions from Maya Chase (10 points, eight rebounds), Qaidence David (four points, four rebounds) and Myah Willis (two points, three rebounds).

“It’s probably the most balanced team we’ve had, young, but extremely balanced for sure,” Dukes said. “We know Southern is a very formidable opponent, but we felt like if we played solid, we would be OK. We didn’t feel like we had to play great, but we felt like we needed to play solid on both ends of the floor.”

“We’ve played teams as good as Pikesville throughout the season so we came into the game battle-tested,” Todd said. “Pikesville just played a heck of a basketball game. It’s no accident they’ve won four in a row, they’ve been here they’ve done that and they continued to prove why they’ve now won five in a row.”

Six could be on the horizon. Pikesville has no seniors on its roster.

“This is still really a young team that didn’t really have a lot of experience in this moment really outside of Jones-Bey, so we kind of stressed that we are not panicking and you guys don’t panic and they really grew and bonded as the season went on and we’ve seen the evolution of this team to actually be one of our best teams here,” Dukes said.

Have a news tip? Contact Craig Clary at cclary@baltsun.com andx.com/ClaryCraig.

PIKESVILLE: 12-17-17-21 — 67

SOUTHERN: 15-12-12-23 — 62

P: Mariah Jones-Bey 21, NyJae Malik-El 19, Ka’nai Pyatt 11, Maya Chase 10, Qaidence David 4, Myah Willis 2.

SG: Kelsey Ward 12, Jocelyn Ward 10, Carly Wilt, 9, Jayden Weaver 9, Abi Teets 8, Emelee Parks 8, Gabbi Berry 6,